This Ten Finest Worldwide Albums of This Past Year

The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide releases that defied expectations. Presenting a selection of ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music.

Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already

A continuous, 40-minute suite of insistent drumming may not appear the easiest listening experience. Yet, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating work. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive vocabulary across the record's 10 movements. The album channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the repetition of a continual, thrumming refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive world.

9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember

Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative set of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that cemented her status in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is gentle and introspective, singing delicate melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a wavering, yearning vocal technique against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and subtle, yet this austerity creates the perfect setting for Hamdan's emotive compositions to shine through. It is truly deserving of the long anticipation.

Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas

From Mexico producer Debit has a knack for eerie reinterpretations of archival audio. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, filtering its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via layers of sludge and static to create a novel, menacing groove. Periodically ambient and uneasy, Debit transforms the celebratory party music of cumbia into a lasting, spectral echo.

7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Sensory overload is the key term for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of 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, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a especially frenetic and punishingly loud forty-minute sonic journey. Give in to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly freeing.

Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a reissued treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably engaging fusion of the metallic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the undulating tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid created over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.

5. Enji – Resonance

From Mongolia vocalist Enji's soft new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most diverse music yet. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the soft jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a live band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, pulling the listener into the tender soundscape of her unique voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow

Channeling the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek blends the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with drifting keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's commanding high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches vibrant new territory. They create sinuous, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that impart a fresh, off-kilter spin to the Turkish psych sound.

3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty

Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together 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 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 rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim