Our 10 Top International Records of the Year 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the global releases that expanded horizons. We explore ten exceptional albums that characterized the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of insistent drumming may not appear the easiest musical proposition. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Guiding an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a complex percussive vocabulary across the record's ten parts. The album channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with traditional Indian musical phrasing, everything tethered in the recurrence of a ongoing, driving refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan returns with a mournful set of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-influenced style that established her as a fixture in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and introspective, delivering delicate melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a trembling, yearning vocal technique over north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The production is lean and understated, yet this minimalism provides the perfect environment for Hamdan's emotive compositions to shine through. The album proves to be that justifies the long anticipation.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico electronic artist Debit specializes in haunting reinterpretations of archival audio. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby take of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound even further, filtering its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm via sheets of sludge and noise to create a novel, menacing groove. At turns atmospheric and uneasy, Debit transforms the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly memory.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the key term for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly liberating.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an strikingly captivating blend of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her ornate Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a up-tempo funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's delicate new release, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music to date. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs travel from the gentle jazz-pop melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek merges the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds lively new territory. They craft sinuous, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that impart a fresh, off-kilter twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian 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 dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
