Our Ten Greatest Global Records of 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of international music that pushed boundaries. We explore ten remarkable albums that shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive percussion may not appear the most accessible musical proposition. But, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring album. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive vocabulary throughout the record's ten sections. The album references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the repetition of a ongoing, pulsing figure. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the ceremonial rhythm of devotional music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive world.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an eight-year break, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged aesthetic that made her a staple in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and ruminative, singing delicate melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, longing vocal technique over north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and restrained, yet this minimalism provides the perfect canvas for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to shine through. It is truly deserving of the wait.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican producer Debit specializes in eerie reimaginings of traditional music. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit slows this sound even further, processing its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of sludge and noise to create a novel, sinister rhythm. Sometimes atmospheric and uneasy, Debit converts the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal memory.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and deafeningly intense 40-minute sonic journey. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become oddly exhilarating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an remarkably compelling combination of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her ornate Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium 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 features a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
Mongolian singer Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most diverse music to date. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies 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-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, pulling the listener into the tender soundscape of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Drawing on the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group blends the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. 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 nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They develop slinking, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that lend a novel, quirky interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
