Our Ten Finest International Albums of the Year 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international music that expanded horizons. Presenting a selection of ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent percussion may not appear the most accessible listening experience. Yet, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic album. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive dialect over the record's 10 movements. His composition draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the reiteration of a continual, thrumming refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive realm.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a melancholy set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged style that established her as a fixture in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and introspective, singing tender melodies atop the string arrangements 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, yearning vocal technique against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The production is minimal and subtle, yet this minimalism creates the ideal environment for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to take center stage. It is well worth the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican electronic artist Debit specializes in eerie reworkings of historical sounds. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby take of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit slows this sound down to a crawl, filtering its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via veils of distortion and noise to produce a novel, foreboding beat. Periodically atmospheric and unsettling, Debit converts the exuberant party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly echo.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload 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 piles a tumult of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the ferocity, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably frenetic and punishingly loud 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become strangely liberating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an remarkably engaging combination of the sharp sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her melismatic Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a driving funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. Enji – Sonor
Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her broadest music to date. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks veer from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, drawing the listener into the gentle acoustics of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group fuses the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's commanding high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds lively new territory. They craft sinuous, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that give a novel, off-kilter twist to the Turkish psych sound.
3. Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member 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 dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim