This 10 Top Global Records of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide releases that expanded horizons. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that defined the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive drumming could sound like it isn't the most accessible musical proposition. Yet, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a unexpectedly magnetic piece. Guiding an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive language throughout the record's ten sections. The work channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as traditional Indian musical phrasing, all anchored in the recurrence of a continual, thrumming motif. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an eight-year break, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged sound that made her a staple in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is gentle and ruminative, delivering delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, yearning vibrato over electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The production is lean and subtle, yet this simplicity provides the ideal canvas for Hamdan's expressive compositions to shine through. It is that justifies the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit excels at eerie reinterpretations of historical sounds. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby version of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through layers of murk and static to generate a novel, sinister beat. At turns atmospheric and uneasy, Debit transforms the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, spectral memory.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a tumult of alarms, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of urban celebrations. On his follow-up release, 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 notably manic and deafeningly intense forty-minute sonic journey. Give in to the assault and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly freeing.
Number Six: 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. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an strikingly engaging blend of the metallic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her melismatic Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving walking disco bassline. It's a club-ready hybrid delivered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music so far. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the soft jazz-pop melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging 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 is still personal, drawing the listener into the gentle acoustics of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a 1970s throwback sound grounded in Yıldırım's commanding high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. However, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They craft smooth, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that impart a novel, unconventional twist to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Arranging music for the 60-piece 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 theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim