Our 10 Most Outstanding Global Releases of This Past Year
Looking back on the musical landscape of global sounds that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that characterized the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive drumming may not appear the most accessible musical proposition. However, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring work. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive language throughout the record's ten sections. The work draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the recurrence of a persistent, driving refrain. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful set of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged style that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is gentle and thoughtful, singing delicate melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, longing vibrato over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and restrained, yet this austerity creates the ideal setting for Hamdan's deeply felt compositions to resonate. It is truly deserving of the wait.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico electronic artist Debit specializes in uncanny reimaginings of historical sounds. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of sludge and hiss to produce a fresh, sinister groove. Sometimes ambient and discomfiting, Debit transforms the exuberant party music of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly memory.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the defining principle for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a tumult 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 urban celebrations. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the ferocity, adding everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and deafeningly intense forty-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely freeing.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated masterpiece. 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 fluid classical Indian singing style. Drum machine patterns mimics the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a driving walking disco bassline. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her most wide-ranging music yet. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs travel from the soft jazz-pop melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, pulling the listener into the warm acoustics of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek merges the electric jangle of the electrified saz with woozy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic grounded in Yıldırım's strong high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into dynamic new territory. They create sinuous, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that impart a novel, quirky interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
3. Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning 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 syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
