The 10 Top Worldwide Albums of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global music that expanded horizons. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that characterized the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive percussion could sound like it isn't the most accessible listening experience. However, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating album. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive dialect across the record's ten sections. The album references Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a ongoing, pulsing refrain. Over its duration, this refrain starts to mirror the ceremonial rhythm of devotional music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive world.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative album of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged style that established her as a fixture in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is gentle and ruminative, delivering soft melodies over 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 uses a quivering, yearning vocal technique over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The production is lean and understated, yet this austerity offers the ideal environment for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to shine through. It is well worth the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico producer Debit has a knack for uncanny reimaginings of archival audio. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected version of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, filtering its signature synths and off-beat rhythm through sheets of distortion and static to produce a fresh, foreboding groove. At turns atmospheric and unsettling, Debit transforms the exuberant party music of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal afterimage.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the intensity, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably frenetic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Give in to the assault and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly freeing.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually compelling fusion of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion echoes the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a club-ready hybrid created more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the gentle jazz-pop melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, pulling the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group merges the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's commanding high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. But, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into dynamic new territory. They craft smooth, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that give a novel, quirky twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Arranging music for the 60-piece 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 theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
