This Ten Most Outstanding Worldwide Albums of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international releases that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten remarkable albums that shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of cyclical drumming might not seem the most approachable listening experience. Yet, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating album. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive language across the record's ten parts. His composition channels the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the reiteration of a continual, pulsing motif. As the album progresses, 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
After an long absence, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and introspective, delivering soft melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, yearning vocal technique against north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and understated, yet this simplicity provides the perfect setting for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to take center stage. It is truly deserving of the wait.
Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican electronic artist Debit excels at uncanny reinterpretations of historical sounds. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through veils of sludge and static to create a new, menacing rhythm. At turns atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit transforms the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, spectral afterimage.
7. DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sheer intensity is the operative word for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a onslaught of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, adding everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly hyperactive and punishingly loud 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly liberating.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly engaging blend of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns echoes the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid created more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. Enji – Resonance
Mongolian singer Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most wide-ranging music to date. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks travel from the soft jazz-pop melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains close, inviting the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek blends the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds vibrant new territory. They develop slinking, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that impart a new, off-kilter interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
