Our Ten Greatest Global Releases of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide releases that defied expectations. Presenting a selection of ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive percussion might not seem the most approachable musical proposition. Yet, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating album. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive dialect across the record's 10 movements. His composition references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the repetition of a persistent, driving figure. Over its duration, this refrain starts to mirror the ceremonial rhythm of ceremonial music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an hiatus of eight years, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged sound that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is soft and ruminative, singing tender melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, longing vibrato against north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and restrained, yet this austerity creates the perfect setting for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to shine through. It is well worth the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit excels at eerie reimaginings of archival audio. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound even further, running its signature synths and off-beat rhythm via veils of sludge and static to generate a novel, sinister beat. At turns ambient and unsettling, Debit transforms the joyous party music of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly echo.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the key term for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, throwing in everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and deafeningly intense 40-minute sonic journey. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly liberating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered masterpiece. 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 fluid classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion echoes the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines doubles the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion delivered over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's soft new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most diverse music to date. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodies of downtempo 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 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, inviting the listener into the tender acoustics of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Drawing on the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the electric jangle of the electrified saz with dreamy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's commanding high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds lively new territory. They develop sinuous, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that impart a new, quirky interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
