This 10 Best Global Records of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international releases that pushed boundaries. We explore ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent drumming may not appear the most approachable listening experience. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this persistent pulse into a unexpectedly magnetic album. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive language over the record's ten sections. The album channels the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the repetition of a continual, driving refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive realm.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced aesthetic that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape 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 groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, yearning vocal technique against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and subtle, yet this minimalism offers the ideal setting for Hamdan's emotive compositions to take center stage. The album proves to be that justifies the long anticipation.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican electronic artist Debit excels at haunting reinterpretations of archival audio. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, filtering its signature synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of distortion and hiss to generate a new, foreboding rhythm. At turns atmospheric and uneasy, Debit converts the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly echo.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the defining principle for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the driving sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the energy, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become oddly exhilarating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an remarkably engaging combination of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion echoes the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend pioneered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
Number Five: Enji – Resonance
Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her broadest music yet. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks travel 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 energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, pulling the listener into the warm acoustics of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek blends the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with drifting Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They create smooth, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that give a novel, quirky spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece 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 theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
