The Ten Most Outstanding International Records of 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the global releases that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that shaped the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of cyclical percussion may not appear the most approachable musical proposition. However, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar crafts a dense percussive vocabulary across the record's 10 movements. His composition draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the recurrence of a persistent, driving figure. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive realm.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful collection of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged sound that made her a staple in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is quiet and thoughtful, singing soft melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a wavering, longing vocal technique against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and restrained, yet this austerity offers the ideal environment for Hamdan's expressive compositions to resonate. The album proves to be truly deserving of the wait.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican producer Debit specializes in uncanny reinterpretations of historical sounds. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby version of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound down to a crawl, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of distortion and static to generate a new, foreboding groove. Periodically ambient and unsettling, Debit morphs the exuberant party music of cumbia into a lasting, spectral memory.
Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the intensity, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and deafeningly intense forty-minute listening experience. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's bold productions become strangely exhilarating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly captivating combination of the sharp sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her ornate Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mirrors the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines parallels the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion created over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia singer Enji's delicate new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music yet. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, inviting the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches dynamic new territory. They create sinuous, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that lend a new, quirky twist to the Turkish psych sound.
3. Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning 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 counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
