This 10 Greatest International Albums of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international releases that defied expectations. We explore ten notable albums that defined the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent drumming could sound like it isn't the easiest musical proposition. However, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring piece. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive dialect throughout the record's ten parts. The album draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the recurrence of a continual, driving motif. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive realm.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a melancholy album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged aesthetic that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and thoughtful, delivering delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, longing vibrato over north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The production is lean and subtle, yet this simplicity offers the perfect environment for Hamdan's emotive compositions to shine through. This is a record truly deserving of the long anticipation.
Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit specializes in haunting reimaginings of historical sounds. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, processing its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through layers of sludge and noise to generate a novel, foreboding rhythm. Periodically ambient and uneasy, Debit converts the exuberant party music of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal afterimage.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the operative word for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a tumult of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of neighborhood block parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become strangely exhilarating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly captivating fusion of the sharp sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody parallels the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving walking disco bassline. It's a club-ready hybrid pioneered over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her broadest music yet. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the gentle jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, drawing the listener into the warm acoustics of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group merges the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound rooted in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds vibrant new territory. They create slinking, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that lend a fresh, unconventional spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim