The Ten Most Outstanding International Releases of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international sounds that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten exceptional albums that characterized the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent percussion may not appear the easiest listening experience. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating work. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a complex percussive vocabulary throughout the record's ten parts. His composition references Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside Indian classical phrasing, everything tethered in the repetition of a ongoing, driving motif. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the ceremonial rhythm of ceremonial music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an eight-year break, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a melancholy album of songs. The work builds upon 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 quiet and introspective, delivering tender melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, longing vibrato against electronic lines with North African flavors and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and understated, yet this minimalism creates the ideal canvas for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to resonate. This is a record that justifies the long anticipation.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit specializes in eerie reinterpretations of traditional music. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound even further, filtering its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of sludge and static to generate a novel, menacing rhythm. Periodically ambient and discomfiting, Debit morphs the celebratory party music of cumbia into a persistent, spectral echo.
Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the operative word for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of neighborhood block parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and deafeningly intense forty-minute sonic journey. Submit to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become strangely exhilarating.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an remarkably captivating blend of the sharp sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her ornate Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion mimics the rolling tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a club-ready hybrid pioneered over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most wide-ranging music yet. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics 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 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a full backing band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, drawing the listener into the warm soundscape of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek merges the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with dreamy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds vibrant new territory. They create sinuous, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that lend a new, quirky spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through everything from the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
