This Ten Greatest Global Albums of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide sounds that defied expectations. We explore ten exceptional albums that characterized the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive drumming could sound like it isn't the easiest listening experience. But, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating album. Guiding an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive vocabulary over the record's ten sections. His composition references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with traditional Indian musical phrasing, all anchored in the recurrence of a ongoing, pulsing motif. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive world.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a mournful collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and thoughtful, delivering soft melodies over the bowing strings 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, yearning vocal technique over electronic lines with North African flavors and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and understated, yet this minimalism creates the ideal canvas for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to resonate. This is a record that justifies the long anticipation.
Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico producer Debit specializes in eerie reinterpretations of historical sounds. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby take of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via veils of distortion and static to produce a fresh, sinister groove. Periodically ambient and unsettling, Debit transforms the joyous party music of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly echo.
7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the operative word for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a cacophony of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and deafeningly intense 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become strangely liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually engaging combination of the sharp sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody parallels the traditional sound of the reed organ 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 up-tempo walking disco bassline. It's a club-ready hybrid created over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most diverse music to date. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces travel from the soft jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit 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 warm soundscape of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the electric jangle of the electrified saz with dreamy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into dynamic new territory. They develop smooth, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that impart a novel, unconventional spin to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member 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 dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
