The 10 Greatest International Releases of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international sounds 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
A continuous, 40-minute suite of cyclical drumming might not seem the most approachable musical proposition. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a strangely alluring work. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive dialect over the record's ten sections. His composition draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with traditional Indian musical phrasing, each grounded in the recurrence of a persistent, thrumming refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive realm.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an eight-year break, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged sound that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and thoughtful, delivering delicate melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs 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 ideal canvas for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to take center stage. This is a record truly deserving of the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican electronic artist Debit specializes in eerie reworkings of traditional music. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected version of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound even further, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via sheets of murk and noise to produce a novel, foreboding groove. Periodically ambient and uneasy, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly afterimage.
Number Seven: DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload 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 piles a onslaught of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, adding everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and deafeningly intense forty-minute listening experience. Submit to the assault and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly freeing.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly captivating blend of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian singing style. Drum machine patterns mirrors the rolling tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a driving disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion delivered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia singer Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her broadest music yet. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the gentle jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a ensemble rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the electric jangle of the electrified saz with drifting keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a retro-70s aesthetic anchored in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They create slinking, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that give a new, quirky spin to the Turkish psych sound.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian 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 syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
