The 10 Most Outstanding Global Records of 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of international releases that defied expectations. We explore ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of cyclical drumming might not seem the most accessible musical proposition. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating album. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar crafts a intricate percussive language throughout the record's 10 movements. The album channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a ongoing, pulsing figure. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an hiatus of eight years, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a melancholy album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-influenced sound that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and introspective, delivering tender melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, longing vibrato over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is sparse and restrained, yet this simplicity creates the ideal canvas for Hamdan's deeply felt lyricism to shine through. It is truly deserving of the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican producer Debit has a knack for eerie reworkings of archival audio. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of distortion and noise to produce a novel, foreboding beat. Sometimes ambient and unsettling, Debit morphs the celebratory party music of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly afterimage.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the driving sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and punishingly loud 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become oddly liberating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually captivating blend of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her ornate Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns mimics the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a up-tempo walking disco bassline. It's a club-ready hybrid delivered over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: Enji – Sonor
Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most diverse music yet. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the gentle jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, inviting the listener into the tender soundscape of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the electric jangle of the electrified saz with dreamy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a 1970s throwback sound rooted in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds vibrant new territory. They create sinuous, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that impart a novel, unconventional interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
