The 10 Most Outstanding International Records of the Year 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of global sounds that expanded horizons. We explore ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on cyclical percussion could sound like it isn't the most accessible musical proposition. Yet, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating album. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive dialect across the record's 10 movements. The album references Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as Indian classical phrasing, everything tethered in the repetition of a ongoing, driving motif. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive realm.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an long absence, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful collection of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and ruminative, singing tender melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, yearning vibrato against electronic lines with North African flavors and clattering electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and subtle, yet this austerity offers the perfect canvas for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to shine through. The album proves to be that justifies the wait.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico producer Debit excels at uncanny reimaginings of historical sounds. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, filtering its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via veils of sludge and static to generate a novel, sinister groove. Sometimes ambient and unsettling, Debit converts the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly memory.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the key term for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a tumult of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, throwing in everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a especially frenetic and deafeningly intense forty-minute sonic journey. Give in to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become strangely exhilarating.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an strikingly compelling fusion of the sharp sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mirrors the rolling tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium 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 disco bass groove. It's a party blend pioneered over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's delicate new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music to date. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces travel from the gentle Norah Jones-esque 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-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still personal, pulling the listener into the warm soundscape of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the psychedelic tradition 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 metallic twang of the electrified saz with drifting keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's strong high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They develop smooth, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that impart a novel, off-kilter interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through everything from the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
