This 10 Top Global Releases of This Past Year
Looking back on the musical landscape of international releases that defied expectations. Presenting a selection of ten remarkable albums that characterized the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of cyclical drumming may not appear the most approachable listening experience. But, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic piece. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a complex percussive dialect over the record's ten sections. The work draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs combined with traditional Indian musical phrasing, everything tethered in the reiteration of a continual, driving motif. Over its duration, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an eight-year break, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a mournful collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is quiet and thoughtful, delivering soft melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a quivering, longing vibrato against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is sparse and subtle, yet this austerity creates the perfect environment for Hamdan's deeply felt compositions to shine through. The album proves to be truly deserving of the wait.
8. Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at haunting reworkings of traditional music. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, filtering its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of distortion and noise to produce a new, sinister rhythm. Sometimes atmospheric and unsettling, Debit morphs the celebratory party music of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal memory.
7. DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly liberating.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly captivating blend of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody parallels the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most diverse music so far. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the soft jazz-pop melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, inviting the listener into the tender soundscape of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the metallic twang of the electrified saz with woozy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a retro-70s aesthetic grounded in Yıldırım's strong high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. But, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They develop sinuous, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that impart a new, quirky interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
3. Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable 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 interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
