The 10 Finest Worldwide Releases of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international sounds that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of repetitive drumming might not seem the easiest listening experience. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating piece. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive vocabulary throughout the record's ten sections. His composition references Steve Reich's phasing motifs combined with Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a persistent, pulsing motif. As the album progresses, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a mournful set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced sound 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 over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, longing vocal technique over electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and understated, yet this simplicity provides the ideal environment for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to resonate. It is that justifies the wait.
Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at uncanny reworkings of archival audio. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby version of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, filtering its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of murk and hiss to generate a new, sinister beat. At turns atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit converts the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, spectral afterimage.
Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the operative word for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a cacophony 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 follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and punishingly loud 40-minute sonic journey. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's bold productions become strangely exhilarating.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly captivating combination of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia singer Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most diverse music so far. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the gentle jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, inviting the listener into the warm acoustics of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek blends the metallic twang of the electrified saz with woozy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches dynamic new territory. They craft smooth, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that impart a fresh, off-kilter interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore everything from the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
