The Ten Greatest International Albums of the Year 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the global music that defied expectations. Presenting a selection of ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive drumming might not seem the most accessible listening experience. Yet, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a strangely alluring work. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive vocabulary throughout the record's ten sections. The album draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the repetition of a persistent, thrumming refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive realm.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a melancholy set of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is gentle and thoughtful, delivering soft melodies atop the string arrangements 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, longing vibrato over electronic lines with North African flavors and clattering electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and restrained, yet this austerity provides the perfect setting for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to resonate. This is a record truly deserving of the wait.
Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico producer Debit excels at uncanny reimaginings of historical sounds. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, filtering its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of murk and noise to generate a fresh, sinister groove. Sometimes ambient and discomfiting, Debit morphs the celebratory party music of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly echo.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the operative word for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a tumult of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's bold productions become oddly freeing.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an strikingly compelling combination of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns echoes the rolling tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a driving disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid created more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most diverse music so far. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the gentle 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 sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, pulling the listener into the gentle acoustics of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia established 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 drifting keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's powerful high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds lively new territory. They develop smooth, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that lend a fresh, off-kilter twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
