This 10 Greatest International Records of This Past Year

The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global releases that expanded horizons. We explore ten remarkable albums that shaped the year in music.

10. 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 easiest musical proposition. But, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a strangely alluring work. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar crafts a intricate percussive dialect throughout the record's ten sections. The album references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with Indian classical phrasing, everything tethered in the reiteration of a persistent, driving motif. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of ritual music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive realm.

Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

Following an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a contemplative set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced style that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and ruminative, singing tender melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a wavering, longing vibrato over electronic lines with North African flavors and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and restrained, yet this minimalism creates the ideal setting for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to resonate. This is a record that justifies the wait.

8. Debit – Desaceleradas

Mexican electronic artist Debit has a knack for haunting reimaginings of historical sounds. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby version of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound even further, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through sheets of murk and noise to generate a new, foreboding groove. At turns atmospheric and unsettling, Debit transforms the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, spectral memory.

7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Sensory overload is the defining principle for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of neighborhood block parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the intensity, throwing in everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute sonic journey. Give in to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly freeing.

Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually compelling fusion of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her fluid Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mirrors the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines parallels the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a dancefloor fusion created more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.

Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor

Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her broadest music yet. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the gentle jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration 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 ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, inviting the listener into the warm acoustics of her singular 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, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with drifting keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's commanding high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches dynamic new territory. They develop smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that impart a new, unconventional twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore 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