The Ten Most Outstanding International Albums of 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of international music that expanded horizons. Presenting a selection of ten notable albums that characterized the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of repetitive drumming may not appear the easiest musical proposition. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic album. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive dialect over the record's 10 movements. The work channels the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with traditional Indian musical phrasing, everything tethered in the repetition of a persistent, thrumming motif. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, luring the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-influenced style that established her as a fixture in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is soft and introspective, singing soft melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, longing vocal technique over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The production is sparse and restrained, yet this minimalism offers the perfect canvas for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to shine through. It is truly deserving of the long anticipation.
8. Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit excels at uncanny reimaginings of historical sounds. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, processing its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via veils of distortion and static to generate a fresh, menacing groove. Periodically ambient and discomfiting, Debit morphs the joyous party music of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly afterimage.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a tumult of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute sonic journey. Give in to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely freeing.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably captivating fusion of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her ornate classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines parallels 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 features a driving walking disco bassline. It's a club-ready hybrid delivered over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. Enji – Resonance
Mongolian singer Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most diverse music to date. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks range from the soft jazz-pop melodies 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 live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, drawing the listener into the tender acoustics of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group merges the electric jangle of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's strong high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches dynamic new territory. They craft slinking, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that impart a fresh, quirky twist to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Orchestrating 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 theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
