This Ten Most Outstanding Worldwide Releases of This Past Year

Looking back on the musical landscape of global releases that expanded horizons. Presenting a selection of ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.

Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent drumming may not appear the most approachable listening experience. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating piece. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive dialect throughout the record's 10 movements. The album channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the reiteration of a continual, thrumming figure. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of ritual music, luring the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive world.

Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember

After an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged style that cemented her status in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and introspective, delivering delicate melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a trembling, yearning vocal technique against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The production is sparse and restrained, yet this minimalism creates the ideal environment for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to resonate. This is a record well worth the wait.

8. Debit – Slowed Down

Mexican electronic artist Debit specializes in uncanny reimaginings of traditional music. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through sheets of murk and static to produce a novel, foreboding rhythm. At turns ambient and discomfiting, Debit transforms the exuberant party music of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly memory.

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

Sheer intensity is the operative word for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a tumult of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of urban celebrations. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the intensity, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and punishingly loud forty-minute listening experience. Surrender to the assault and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly liberating.

6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably captivating fusion of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mimics the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines doubles the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend pioneered over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.

Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance

From Mongolia singer Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most diverse music so far. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of downtempo 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 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains close, inviting the listener into the warm soundscape of her singular voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow

Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek blends the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with drifting keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches dynamic new territory. They create slinking, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that impart a novel, unconventional spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

3. Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece 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 interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim