The Ten Top International Records of the Year 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide sounds that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive drumming may not appear the easiest listening experience. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic album. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a dense percussive language over the record's ten sections. His composition draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, everything tethered in the recurrence of a persistent, thrumming figure. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and thoughtful, 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 uses a wavering, yearning vocal technique over north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and understated, yet this minimalism creates the ideal setting for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to take center stage. It is well worth the long anticipation.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for haunting reworkings of archival audio. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, processing its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through veils of murk and static to create a fresh, sinister beat. Sometimes atmospheric and uneasy, Debit converts the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal memory.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the key term for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics over the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the intensity, adding everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Give in to the assault and Vieira's brash productions become oddly liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release 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 remarkably compelling fusion of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her ornate Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion mimics the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines parallels the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a fast-paced disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid created more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
Number Five: Enji – Resonance
Mongolian singer Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her broadest music yet. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces 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 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 is still intimate, pulling the listener into the warm acoustics of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a 1970s throwback sound rooted in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. But, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory. They craft sinuous, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that impart a fresh, unconventional spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse everything from the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim