The Ten Greatest International Albums of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international sounds that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that characterized the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent percussion may not appear the easiest musical proposition. Yet, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring work. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a complex percussive language over the record's ten parts. His composition draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the reiteration of a persistent, driving figure. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the ceremonial rhythm of devotional music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced style that made her a staple in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is gentle and ruminative, delivering 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 employs a trembling, longing vocal technique over electronic lines with North African flavors and rattling electronic percussion. The production is lean and subtle, yet this minimalism offers the ideal canvas for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to shine through. The album proves to be truly deserving of the long anticipation.
Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for haunting reimaginings of archival audio. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby take of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit slows this sound down to a crawl, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through sheets of sludge and static to produce a novel, menacing rhythm. Sometimes atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit transforms the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, spectral memory.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sheer intensity is the operative word for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of urban celebrations. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and punishingly loud 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the assault and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly exhilarating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a reissued masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an remarkably engaging combination of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her ornate Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most diverse music yet. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks travel from the soft 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 lively, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, pulling the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group blends the electric jangle of the electrified saz with woozy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound grounded in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. But, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They craft smooth, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that lend a new, off-kilter interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
