The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide releases that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music.
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent percussion might not seem the most accessible listening experience. Yet, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this persistent pulse into a strangely alluring album. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar creates a dense percussive dialect throughout the record's 10 movements. The work draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the recurrence of a ongoing, pulsing refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive realm.
Coming off an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that made her a staple in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and thoughtful, delivering tender melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, yearning vibrato over electronic lines with North African flavors and clattering electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and restrained, yet this minimalism provides the ideal canvas for Hamdan's emotive compositions to shine through. It is well worth the long anticipation.
From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at haunting reworkings of archival audio. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, running its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm via layers of sludge and static to produce a fresh, sinister rhythm. Sometimes ambient and discomfiting, Debit transforms the exuberant party music of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal memory.
Maximalism is the defining principle for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a tumult of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly manic and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become strangely freeing.
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a reissued gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an strikingly captivating blend of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her melismatic classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, 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 club-ready hybrid delivered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
From Mongolia singer Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most diverse music to date. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks range from the gentle jazz-pop melodies of downtempo 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 ensemble rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, pulling the listener into the gentle acoustics of her unique voice.
Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group blends the metallic twang of the electrified saz with woozy Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's strong high register and shaped 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 create smooth, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that lend a novel, off-kilter interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
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