Our 10 Most Outstanding International Records of 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international sounds that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that defined the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of cyclical drumming might not seem the easiest musical proposition. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring piece. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive vocabulary over the record's ten sections. The work draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the reiteration of a ongoing, driving refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an eight-year break, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged aesthetic that established her as a fixture in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and ruminative, delivering tender melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a trembling, longing vibrato over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and clattering electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and subtle, yet this simplicity offers the perfect canvas for Hamdan's emotive compositions to take center stage. It is that justifies the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit specializes in haunting reworkings of traditional music. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via sheets of murk and static to generate a fresh, foreboding beat. Periodically ambient and discomfiting, Debit transforms the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly afterimage.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a cacophony of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly exhilarating.
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 rediscovered masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly compelling fusion of the metallic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion echoes the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines doubles 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 features a driving funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend pioneered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
Number Five: Enji – Sonor
Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most wide-ranging music yet. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, inviting the listener into the gentle acoustics of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek merges the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and shaped 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 reaches dynamic new territory. They create smooth, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that give a fresh, quirky spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore everything from the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
