Our Ten Finest International Records of 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international sounds that expanded horizons. We explore ten exceptional albums that characterized the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent percussion may not appear the easiest listening experience. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating piece. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar crafts a intricate percussive language over the record's ten parts. His composition draws from minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a continual, thrumming figure. As the album progresses, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an hiatus of eight years, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape 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 deep trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, yearning vocal technique over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and subtle, yet this minimalism creates the perfect setting for Hamdan's deeply felt compositions to take center stage. This is a record well worth the long anticipation.
8. Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit excels at eerie reworkings of traditional music. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound even further, processing its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via sheets of distortion and noise to create a new, foreboding beat. Periodically atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit converts the exuberant party music of cumbia into a enduring, ethereal memory.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the output 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 over the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become oddly freeing.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually engaging blend of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the rolling tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving walking disco bassline. It's a club-ready hybrid pioneered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
Number Five: Enji – Resonance
Mongolian vocalist Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most diverse music to date. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks veer from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, pulling the listener into the tender soundscape of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Inspired by the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group merges the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic grounded in Yıldırım's strong high register 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 finds lively new territory. They craft smooth, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that give a novel, quirky spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
