Our 10 Top International Records of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international music that expanded horizons. Presenting a selection of ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent drumming might not seem the most accessible listening experience. However, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this persistent pulse into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Directing an group of three drummers, Korwar crafts a dense percussive language across the record's ten parts. His composition draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the recurrence of a continual, pulsing refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, luring the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an long absence, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged style that established her as a fixture in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is soft and ruminative, singing tender melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, yearning vibrato against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The production is minimal and subtle, yet this simplicity offers the ideal canvas for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to shine through. It is well worth the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico producer Debit specializes in uncanny reworkings of historical sounds. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit decelerates this sound even further, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of murk and static to produce a new, menacing rhythm. Periodically atmospheric and unsettling, Debit morphs the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly echo.
7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the operative word for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the propulsive sound of urban celebrations. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the energy, throwing in everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Give in to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly exhilarating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually captivating fusion of the metallic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns echoes the rolling tones of the tabla, while synth lines doubles the traditional sound of the reed organ 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 channels a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. Enji – Sonor
Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most diverse music yet. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, drawing the listener into the tender acoustics of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with dreamy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They develop sinuous, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that impart a fresh, unconventional interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
3. Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
