Our Ten Best Global 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 shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of cyclical percussion could sound like it isn't the most approachable listening experience. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this persistent pulse into a strangely alluring album. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive language throughout the record's 10 movements. The album draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the repetition of a persistent, thrumming refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive world.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an long absence, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful album of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and thoughtful, singing tender melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a trembling, longing vibrato over north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and understated, yet this minimalism offers the ideal environment for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to shine through. This is a record that justifies the long anticipation.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico electronic artist Debit specializes in eerie reinterpretations of historical sounds. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound even further, filtering its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm via sheets of distortion and static to create a fresh, foreboding groove. Periodically atmospheric and unsettling, Debit transforms the celebratory party music of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal afterimage.
Number Seven: DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the operative word for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the driving sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, 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 hyperactive and punishingly loud forty-minute listening experience. Submit to the assault and Vieira's brash productions become oddly liberating.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably captivating fusion of the metallic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines parallels the classic 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 fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid created over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most diverse music so far. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces travel from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, drawing the listener into the tender soundscape of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Drawing on the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group fuses the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's commanding high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They craft slinking, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that impart a new, unconventional interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
