This 10 Greatest International Albums of the Year 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide releases that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of insistent drumming might not seem the easiest listening experience. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a hypnotically captivating work. Guiding an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive language over the record's ten parts. The work references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the reiteration of a persistent, thrumming refrain. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive realm.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an long absence, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a melancholy album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced style that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is gentle and introspective, delivering delicate melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, longing vibrato over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and restrained, yet this simplicity offers the perfect environment for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to shine through. This is a record truly deserving of the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican producer Debit has a knack for haunting reimaginings of archival audio. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, processing its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of distortion and noise to produce a fresh, foreboding rhythm. Sometimes ambient and uneasy, Debit converts the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal memory.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the defining principle for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the propulsive sound of urban celebrations. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the energy, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly hyperactive and deafeningly intense forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly exhilarating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually compelling blend of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her fluid Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns echoes the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional 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 boasts a driving disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid pioneered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia singer Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most diverse music so far. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs travel from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, pulling the listener into the warm acoustics of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Drawing on the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek merges the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with drifting keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's strong high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They craft smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that impart a new, unconventional spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
