This 10 Finest International Records of the Year 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide releases that expanded horizons. We explore ten exceptional 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 repetitive percussion could sound like it isn't the most accessible musical proposition. Yet, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this persistent pulse into a unexpectedly magnetic album. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive language across the record's 10 movements. The work references Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the recurrence of a persistent, thrumming figure. As the album progresses, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive world.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged aesthetic that established her as a fixture in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and introspective, singing tender melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, yearning vocal technique against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and clattering electronic percussion. The production is minimal and subtle, yet this austerity offers the perfect environment for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to shine through. The album proves to be that justifies the wait.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican electronic artist Debit specializes in uncanny reinterpretations of archival audio. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound even further, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of murk and hiss to produce a novel, foreboding rhythm. Sometimes atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit transforms the joyous party music of cumbia into a lasting, spectral afterimage.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the intensity, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially frenetic and punishingly loud forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely exhilarating.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly captivating combination of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody replicates the traditional 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 features a up-tempo walking disco bassline. It's a party blend created over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: Enji – Resonance
Mongolian singer Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most diverse music to date. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks travel from the soft jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a full backing band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, pulling the listener into the tender soundscape of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the electric jangle of the electrified saz with dreamy 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 aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds lively new territory. They create sinuous, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that impart a fresh, unconventional twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
