This 10 Greatest International Records of This Past Year

The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international music that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten remarkable albums that characterized the year in music.

10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already

The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent drumming may not appear the most accessible musical proposition. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a strangely alluring album. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive language throughout the record's ten parts. The work references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich alongside Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the recurrence of a continual, thrumming refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive world.

Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember

After an hiatus of eight years, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a mournful set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced aesthetic that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and ruminative, singing tender melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, longing vocal technique against north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and subtle, yet this simplicity creates the perfect setting for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to shine through. This is a record that justifies the wait.

8. Debit – Slowed Down

From Mexico producer Debit specializes in eerie reworkings of historical sounds. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, processing its signature synths and off-beat rhythm through sheets of murk and hiss to produce a novel, sinister rhythm. Periodically ambient and unsettling, Debit transforms the exuberant party music of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly echo.

7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Maximalism is the key term for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a tumult of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the propulsive sound of neighborhood block parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the assault and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly freeing.

6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an remarkably captivating combination of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the rolling tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a driving funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.

5. Enji – Resonance

From Mongolia singer Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her broadest music yet. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the soft jazz-pop melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, drawing the listener into the tender soundscape of her distinctive voice.

4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa

Drawing on the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group merges the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a 1970s throwback sound grounded in Yıldırım's powerful high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches dynamic new territory. They develop sinuous, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that lend a new, quirky interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore everything from the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim