This Ten Most Outstanding Worldwide Records of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide releases that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that characterized the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive drumming could sound like it isn't the most accessible musical proposition. However, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar crafts a dense percussive language over the record's ten parts. The album references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside traditional Indian musical phrasing, everything tethered in the recurrence of a persistent, thrumming refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of devotional music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced aesthetic that made her a staple in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is quiet and thoughtful, singing soft melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a wavering, yearning vibrato over north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and restrained, yet this austerity offers the ideal canvas for Hamdan's deeply felt lyricism to resonate. The album proves to be that justifies the long anticipation.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for eerie reworkings of historical sounds. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, filtering its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via layers of murk and noise to produce a fresh, foreboding groove. At turns ambient and unsettling, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly afterimage.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the operative word for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a tumult of alarms, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, adding everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Give in to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become oddly freeing.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly captivating combination of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her ornate Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the rolling tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a driving walking disco bassline. It's a party blend created over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's soft new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her most diverse music to date. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, inviting the listener into the warm soundscape of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with drifting keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a 1970s throwback sound grounded in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They develop smooth, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that lend a novel, quirky interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
