This Ten Finest Global Albums of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide sounds that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive drumming could sound like it isn't the easiest musical proposition. Yet, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic album. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a complex percussive language across the record's ten parts. The album references Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the reiteration of a persistent, pulsing motif. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of ceremonial music, luring the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative set of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that established her as a fixture in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is gentle and thoughtful, singing soft melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, yearning vocal technique over electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is sparse and understated, yet this austerity creates the ideal environment for Hamdan's emotive compositions to shine through. This is a record truly deserving of the long anticipation.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico producer Debit has a knack for haunting reworkings of archival audio. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of murk and hiss to create a fresh, foreboding groove. Sometimes ambient and uneasy, Debit transforms the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly echo.
Number Seven: 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 tumult of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, incorporating everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly liberating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a reissued gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly engaging fusion of the metallic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her ornate Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns mirrors the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody parallels the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a up-tempo walking disco bassline. It's a party blend delivered over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks veer from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, 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, drawing the listener into the gentle soundscape of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group merges the metallic twang of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. But, 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 lifting vocals that lend a novel, unconventional twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
