The 10 Best International Records of the Year 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide sounds that defied expectations. We explore ten remarkable albums that characterized the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on cyclical percussion could sound like it isn't the easiest musical proposition. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a unexpectedly magnetic album. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive vocabulary throughout the record's ten sections. His composition channels the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with traditional Indian musical phrasing, all anchored in the repetition of a persistent, driving figure. Over its duration, this refrain starts to mirror the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an eight-year break, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced aesthetic that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and introspective, singing tender melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, yearning vocal technique against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and restrained, yet this minimalism creates the ideal setting for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to take center stage. The album proves to be that justifies the wait.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at haunting reworkings of traditional music. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby version of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, processing its signature synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of sludge and hiss to create a fresh, menacing groove. At turns atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit transforms the joyous party music of cumbia into a lasting, spectral memory.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become unexpectedly liberating.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly captivating combination of the synthetic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines doubles the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced disco bass groove. It's a party blend created more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft new release, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs travel from the gentle jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, pulling the listener into the tender soundscape of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek blends the electric jangle of the electrified saz with drifting keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's commanding high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory. They develop slinking, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that impart a fresh, off-kilter spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
