Our 10 Greatest Global Releases of This Past Year

Looking back on the musical landscape of international music that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.

10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already

An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent drumming could sound like it isn't the most accessible musical proposition. However, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a strangely alluring work. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive dialect across the record's ten parts. The work channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside Indian classical phrasing, everything tethered in the reiteration of a persistent, thrumming refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of devotional music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive realm.

Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

After an long absence, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan returns with a contemplative set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced sound that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and thoughtful, singing tender melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a quivering, yearning vibrato over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and clattering electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and restrained, yet this minimalism creates the perfect environment for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to resonate. This is a record that justifies the wait.

Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down

From Mexico producer Debit specializes in haunting reimaginings of archival audio. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, running its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of sludge and static to create a new, menacing groove. Periodically atmospheric and uneasy, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly afterimage.

7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Sheer intensity is the operative word for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly manic and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become strangely liberating.

6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an unusually engaging blend of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her ornate Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion mimics the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a club-ready hybrid delivered over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.

5. Enji – Sonor

Mongolian singer Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music to date. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs travel from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, drawing the listener into the tender acoustics of her distinctive voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa

Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group merges the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They develop sinuous, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that lend a new, quirky twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty

Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim