The Ten Most Outstanding Global Albums of This Past Year

Looking back on the musical landscape of international sounds that pushed boundaries. We explore ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.

10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive drumming may not appear the easiest listening experience. However, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring album. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive dialect throughout the record's ten sections. The work draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a ongoing, driving motif. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of devotional 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 contemplative set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced aesthetic that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and introspective, singing delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, longing vibrato against north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and subtle, yet this minimalism provides the ideal setting for Hamdan's deeply felt compositions to shine through. The album proves to be truly deserving of the long anticipation.

Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down

Mexican electronic artist Debit has a knack for haunting reworkings of traditional music. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of sludge and hiss to produce a fresh, sinister groove. At turns ambient and discomfiting, Debit transforms the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, spectral echo.

Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Maximalism is the operative word for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the propulsive sound of urban celebrations. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and deafeningly intense 40-minute sonic journey. Give in to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly exhilarating.

Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco

Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably engaging fusion of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian singing style. Drum machine patterns mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving disco bass groove. It's a party blend delivered over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.

5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor

From Mongolia singer Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her broadest music to date. 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 spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her unique voice.

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

Drawing on the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with drifting keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a retro-70s aesthetic anchored in Yıldırım's commanding high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. However, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory. They craft slinking, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that lend a new, off-kilter interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.

Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty

Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through everything from 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. It is Pim