Our 10 Greatest International Records of 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of worldwide music that expanded horizons. We explore ten remarkable albums that shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of cyclical drumming might not seem the most accessible musical proposition. However, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating piece. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a dense percussive vocabulary over the record's ten sections. The work references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, everything tethered in the recurrence of a persistent, pulsing figure. Over its duration, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an hiatus of eight years, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged style that established her as a fixture in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and ruminative, delivering tender melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, longing vocal technique over north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is sparse and understated, yet this austerity creates the ideal canvas for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to shine through. The album proves to be that justifies the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit specializes in eerie reimaginings of traditional music. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound even further, processing its signature synths and off-beat rhythm through sheets of distortion and hiss to produce a novel, sinister rhythm. At turns atmospheric and unsettling, Debit transforms the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal memory.
Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a cacophony of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the driving sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the intensity, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and deafeningly intense forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become oddly freeing.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably compelling combination of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her melismatic classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody parallels the classic sound of the reed organ 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 boasts a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend delivered over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia singer Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her broadest music yet. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, drawing the listener into the warm acoustics of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group merges the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with dreamy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's powerful high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They create slinking, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that give a new, off-kilter twist to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse everything from the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
