The 10 Best Worldwide Albums of This Past Year

The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international music that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten notable 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 cyclical drumming might not seem the most accessible musical proposition. But, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this persistent pulse into a strangely alluring piece. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive dialect over the record's ten sections. The album draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside traditional Indian musical phrasing, each grounded in the recurrence of a ongoing, pulsing motif. Over its duration, this refrain starts to mirror the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive universe.

Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

After an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that made her a staple in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and introspective, singing delicate melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a trembling, longing vibrato over electronic lines with North African flavors and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and restrained, yet this austerity creates the ideal canvas for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to resonate. The album proves to be well worth the wait.

8. Debit – Slowed Down

Mexican electronic artist Debit excels at haunting reworkings of archival audio. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, filtering its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via layers of murk and noise to generate a new, menacing rhythm. Sometimes ambient and discomfiting, Debit morphs the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly echo.

Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!

Maximalism is the operative word for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a onslaught of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the ferocity, adding 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 especially frenetic and deafeningly intense 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the assault and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly exhilarating.

6. 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 reissued gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an strikingly captivating combination of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mimics the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion created over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.

Number Five: Enji – Resonance

Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most wide-ranging music yet. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks veer from the soft jazz-pop melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, inviting the listener into the gentle acoustics of her unique voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow

Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock 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 amplified traditional lute with dreamy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound rooted in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds lively new territory. They craft smooth, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that give a fresh, quirky spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including 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