The Ten Greatest Worldwide Albums of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide music that defied expectations. We explore ten notable albums that defined the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent percussion may not appear the most approachable musical proposition. Yet, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating album. Directing an group of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive dialect over the record's ten parts. His composition channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the repetition of a ongoing, thrumming figure. As the album progresses, this refrain evokes the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive universe.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced aesthetic that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and introspective, singing delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, yearning vibrato over electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and restrained, yet this minimalism creates the ideal environment for Hamdan's deeply felt compositions to take center stage. This is a record that justifies the long anticipation.
8. Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican producer Debit specializes in eerie reinterpretations of historical sounds. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby version of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, filtering its signature synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of distortion and hiss to produce a fresh, sinister groove. Periodically ambient and uneasy, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly memory.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the operative word for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the driving sound of urban celebrations. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly manic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become oddly freeing.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually engaging blend of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mirrors the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody doubles 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 up-tempo funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid pioneered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia singer Enji's gentle latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music to date. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the gentle jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, inviting the listener into the warm soundscape of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Drawing on the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek merges the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches vibrant new territory. They develop smooth, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that impart a novel, off-kilter spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse everything from the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
