This 10 Best Worldwide Records of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international sounds that defied expectations. Presenting a selection of ten notable albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on cyclical drumming might not seem the most approachable musical proposition. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic album. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive dialect across the record's ten parts. The work channels the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a persistent, driving refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of ritual music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is soft and thoughtful, delivering soft melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, yearning vibrato against electronic lines with North African flavors and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and understated, yet this austerity offers the ideal canvas for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to take center stage. This is a record truly deserving of the long anticipation.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at eerie reinterpretations of historical sounds. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby version of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound even further, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of sludge and hiss to produce a new, menacing beat. Periodically ambient and discomfiting, Debit morphs the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly echo.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the energy, incorporating everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and deafeningly intense 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely liberating.
Number Six: 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 gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an unusually captivating combination of the synthetic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines doubles the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving walking disco bassline. It's a party blend pioneered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's gentle latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most diverse music so far. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks veer from the soft jazz-pop melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, drawing the listener into the warm soundscape of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group blends the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They develop sinuous, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that impart a novel, off-kilter interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
