This Ten Most Outstanding Worldwide Releases of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the global sounds that defied expectations. Presenting a selection of ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent percussion may not appear the most approachable listening experience. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic album. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive language over the record's 10 movements. His composition references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside traditional Indian musical phrasing, each grounded in the recurrence of a persistent, pulsing motif. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an hiatus of eight years, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and thoughtful, singing delicate melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a quivering, yearning vocal technique over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and restrained, yet this austerity offers the perfect setting for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to shine through. It is well worth the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for haunting reinterpretations of historical sounds. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby version of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, processing its signature synths and off-beat rhythm via sheets of sludge and hiss to create a novel, foreboding groove. At turns ambient and unsettling, Debit converts the exuberant party music of cumbia into a persistent, spectral echo.
7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of neighborhood block parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the intensity, incorporating everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and deafeningly intense forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly exhilarating.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably compelling fusion of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her ornate Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the rolling tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her broadest music so far. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the soft jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still personal, inviting the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek blends the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's strong high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. However, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds lively new territory. They develop smooth, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that impart a new, quirky twist to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece 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 counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
