Our Ten Greatest International Releases of 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of worldwide music that defied expectations. We explore ten remarkable albums that shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive percussion could sound like it isn't the easiest listening experience. Yet, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive dialect throughout the record's ten parts. His composition draws from minimalist concepts from Steve Reich alongside Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a ongoing, pulsing figure. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan returns with a mournful collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced aesthetic that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is gentle and ruminative, singing soft melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, longing vocal technique over north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The production is sparse and subtle, yet this simplicity provides the perfect canvas for Hamdan's deeply felt compositions to shine through. This is a record that justifies the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at uncanny reimaginings of traditional music. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via veils of murk and noise to produce a fresh, foreboding beat. Sometimes atmospheric and unsettling, Debit transforms the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, spectral memory.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the defining principle for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably frenetic and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become strangely exhilarating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an unusually engaging combination of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a up-tempo walking disco bassline. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's soft 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 selection of pieces range from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, pulling the listener into the warm acoustics of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek merges the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's strong 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 vibrant new territory. They develop smooth, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that impart a new, unconventional interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore everything from the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
