This Ten Finest International Albums of This Past Year

The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide releases that pushed boundaries. We explore ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music.

10. Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent drumming could sound like it isn't the most approachable listening experience. But, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring work. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive language across the record's 10 movements. His composition channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as traditional Indian musical phrasing, all anchored in the recurrence of a ongoing, thrumming refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of ceremonial music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.

9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember

Following an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a melancholy collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced style that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and thoughtful, delivering tender melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a quivering, longing vibrato against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and restrained, yet this minimalism provides the ideal setting for Hamdan's emotive compositions to shine through. It is truly deserving of the wait.

Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas

From Mexico electronic artist Debit specializes in eerie reimaginings of archival audio. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound even further, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via layers of distortion and hiss to create a fresh, menacing beat. At turns atmospheric and uneasy, Debit transforms the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly echo.

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

Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the driving sound of urban celebrations. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the energy, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become unexpectedly liberating.

Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually compelling fusion of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the traditional 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 boasts a driving disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.

5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance

Mongolian singer Enji's gentle latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most diverse music yet. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks veer from the gentle jazz-pop melodies 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-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a full backing band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her unique voice.

4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa

Channeling the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a retro-70s aesthetic anchored in Yıldırım's powerful high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory. They craft smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that give a new, unconventional spin to the Turkish psych sound.

3. Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the Gregorian chants 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. Ultimately, it is Pim