Our Ten Top International Releases of 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide sounds that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive percussion may not appear the most approachable listening experience. Yet, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a strangely alluring work. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive vocabulary throughout the record's ten sections. The album channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with Indian classical phrasing, everything tethered in the reiteration of a continual, driving motif. Over its duration, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, luring the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive world.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is quiet and introspective, delivering soft melodies over the string arrangements 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 trembling, yearning vibrato against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The production is lean and subtle, yet this minimalism provides the ideal environment for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to take center stage. This is a record that justifies the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican producer Debit specializes in haunting reworkings of historical sounds. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound even further, processing its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via sheets of murk and noise to create a fresh, foreboding rhythm. Sometimes ambient and discomfiting, Debit morphs the exuberant party music of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly echo.
Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the defining principle for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, adding everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and deafeningly intense 40-minute sonic journey. Submit to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly exhilarating.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an strikingly compelling fusion of the synthetic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves 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 created over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word 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. Showcasing a live band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, drawing the listener into the warm soundscape of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek merges the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic anchored in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They create sinuous, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that impart a novel, off-kilter interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member 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 reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
