Our 10 Greatest International Records of 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide releases that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten remarkable albums that characterized the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of cyclical percussion could sound like it isn't the easiest musical proposition. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a hypnotically captivating album. Guiding an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive language over the record's 10 movements. The work draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as traditional Indian musical phrasing, everything tethered in the repetition of a ongoing, driving refrain. Over its duration, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a melancholy set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-influenced aesthetic that established her as a fixture in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is quiet and ruminative, delivering delicate melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, longing vocal technique over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and understated, yet this austerity provides the ideal environment for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to shine through. This is a record well worth the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico producer Debit excels at eerie reinterpretations of traditional music. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound even further, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via layers of distortion and static to create a novel, menacing rhythm. Sometimes atmospheric and uneasy, Debit morphs the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, ethereal memory.
7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the key term for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, adding everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become oddly liberating.
Number Six: 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 newly appreciated gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly engaging blend of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her most wide-ranging music to date. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs travel from the soft Norah Jones-esque 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-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 manages to stay close, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the metallic twang of the electrified saz with drifting keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's commanding high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They craft smooth, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that give a new, quirky interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim