🔗 Share this article Our 10 Best International Records of 2025 Looking back on the musical landscape of global music that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that shaped the year in music. 10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent percussion may not appear the most accessible musical proposition. But, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic piece. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive vocabulary across the record's ten sections. The album channels the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the reiteration of a ongoing, thrumming motif. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe. Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget After an eight-year break, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a melancholy collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and introspective, singing soft melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a wavering, yearning vibrato against electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The production is sparse and subtle, yet this simplicity provides the perfect environment for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to take center stage. This is a record well worth the wait. 8. Debit – Slowed Down From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at haunting reimaginings of historical sounds. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound even further, filtering its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of distortion and noise to generate a fresh, foreboding beat. Periodically ambient and unsettling, Debit transforms the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly afterimage. Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora! Maximalism is the operative word for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and punishingly loud forty-minute listening experience. Submit to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become oddly exhilarating. Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually compelling combination of the sharp sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her fluid classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels 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 – Sonor Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her most wide-ranging music to date. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the gentle jazz-pop melodies 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 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, pulling the listener into the gentle soundscape of her singular voice. Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group merges the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They craft slinking, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that lend a novel, off-kilter interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style. Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. 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 dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
Looking back on the musical landscape of global music that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that shaped the year in music. 10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent percussion may not appear the most accessible musical proposition. But, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic piece. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive vocabulary across the record's ten sections. The album channels the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the reiteration of a ongoing, thrumming motif. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe. Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget After an eight-year break, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a melancholy collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and introspective, singing soft melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a wavering, yearning vibrato against electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The production is sparse and subtle, yet this simplicity provides the perfect environment for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to take center stage. This is a record well worth the wait. 8. Debit – Slowed Down From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at haunting reimaginings of historical sounds. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound even further, filtering its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of distortion and noise to generate a fresh, foreboding beat. Periodically ambient and unsettling, Debit transforms the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly afterimage. Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora! Maximalism is the operative word for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and punishingly loud forty-minute listening experience. Submit to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become oddly exhilarating. Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually compelling combination of the sharp sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her fluid classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels 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 – Sonor Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her most wide-ranging music to date. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the gentle jazz-pop melodies 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 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, pulling the listener into the gentle soundscape of her singular voice. Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group merges the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They craft slinking, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that lend a novel, off-kilter interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style. Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. 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 dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim