This Ten Top Worldwide Records of This Past Year
Looking back on the musical landscape of global music that expanded horizons. We explore ten notable albums that characterized the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent drumming may not appear the most approachable musical proposition. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a dense percussive dialect over the record's ten sections. His composition channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich alongside Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the recurrence of a persistent, pulsing motif. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, luring the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an eight-year break, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative collection of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged style that cemented her status in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is soft and thoughtful, singing tender melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, longing vocal technique against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and understated, yet this simplicity creates the perfect environment for Hamdan's deeply felt lyricism to take center stage. The album proves to be well worth the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican electronic artist Debit has a knack for uncanny reimaginings of archival audio. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby version of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, processing its signature synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of murk and static to generate a novel, menacing groove. At turns ambient and unsettling, Debit transforms the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, spectral afterimage.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the key term for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the ferocity, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Give in to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become oddly freeing.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually engaging fusion of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid created more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's gentle latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her broadest music yet. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration 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 live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, drawing the listener into the warm acoustics of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group merges the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with drifting keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into dynamic new territory. They create sinuous, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that give a new, quirky spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Orchestrating 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 dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
