The Ten Best Worldwide Albums of This Past Year

As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the global sounds that pushed boundaries. We explore ten remarkable albums that shaped the year in music.

Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already

An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent drumming could sound like it isn't the most accessible musical proposition. However, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring album. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar crafts a intricate percussive language across the record's 10 movements. His composition draws from minimalist concepts from Steve Reich alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the repetition of a ongoing, pulsing figure. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive universe.

Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember

Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a contemplative album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged sound that cemented her status in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and ruminative, delivering delicate melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a trembling, yearning vocal technique over electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and restrained, yet this austerity provides the ideal canvas for Hamdan's deeply felt compositions to shine through. It is that justifies the long anticipation.

Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down

From Mexico electronic artist Debit specializes in eerie reworkings of archival audio. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, filtering its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through layers of distortion and static to produce a fresh, menacing groove. Sometimes ambient and unsettling, Debit transforms the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, spectral memory.

7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Maximalism is the key term for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and punishingly loud forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely liberating.

6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably captivating fusion of the synthetic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody parallels the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a fast-paced disco bass groove. It's a party blend created more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.

5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor

Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her broadest music yet. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs 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-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, drawing the listener into the gentle soundscape of her distinctive voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa

Inspired by the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek blends the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a retro-70s aesthetic anchored in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They craft sinuous, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that lend a fresh, quirky interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.

3. Lido Pimienta – The Beauty

Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Arranging 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 counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim