The Ten Most Outstanding International Releases of This Past Year

As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international music that defied expectations. We explore ten remarkable albums that characterized the year in music.

Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

An album consisting of a single, extended movement of repetitive drumming may not appear the easiest musical proposition. Yet, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a strangely alluring piece. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar crafts a dense percussive dialect across the record's ten parts. The album channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich alongside Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the recurrence of a continual, thrumming figure. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.

Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced aesthetic that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is soft and ruminative, delivering delicate melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a trembling, yearning vocal technique against north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and understated, yet this austerity provides the perfect canvas for Hamdan's deeply felt compositions to shine through. The album proves to be that justifies the long anticipation.

Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas

From Mexico producer Debit specializes in uncanny reimaginings of archival audio. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound even further, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via veils of sludge and hiss to create a new, menacing rhythm. Periodically ambient and uneasy, Debit morphs the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal afterimage.

7. DJ K – Liberator Radio!

Maximalism is the defining principle 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 alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the ferocity, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's bold productions become oddly freeing.

6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco

Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably compelling combination of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns mimics the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving disco bass groove. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.

5. Enji – Resonance

Mongolian singer Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her broadest music yet. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks range from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains close, pulling the listener into the gentle soundscape of her distinctive voice.

4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow

Drawing on the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group merges the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches vibrant new territory. They develop smooth, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that lend a new, unconventional interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through 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