The 10 Finest Global Albums of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide sounds that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of insistent percussion could sound like it isn't the most approachable musical proposition. Yet, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating work. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a dense percussive vocabulary throughout the record's 10 movements. His composition references Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the recurrence of a continual, pulsing refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive realm.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an eight-year break, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a melancholy collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that established her as a fixture in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and introspective, delivering soft melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a trembling, yearning vocal technique over north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The production is minimal and restrained, yet this minimalism offers the ideal setting for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to take center stage. The album proves to be truly deserving of the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit has a knack for eerie reinterpretations of traditional music. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby version of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit decelerates this sound even further, processing its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via sheets of sludge and hiss to produce a fresh, foreboding groove. Periodically ambient and uneasy, Debit transforms the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, spectral memory.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the key term for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a onslaught of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the driving sound of neighborhood block parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly hyperactive and punishingly loud 40-minute sonic journey. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely liberating.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually engaging fusion of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a driving walking disco bassline. It's a party blend pioneered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
Number Five: Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's soft new release, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, drawing the listener into the warm soundscape of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group merges the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They develop smooth, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that impart a new, unconventional twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong 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 explore a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
