Our 10 Finest International Albums of the Year 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of global releases that pushed boundaries. We explore ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent percussion may not appear the most approachable musical proposition. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating piece. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive dialect over the record's ten parts. The work draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the repetition of a persistent, driving figure. Over its duration, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy album of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is quiet and introspective, singing delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, longing vocal technique against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and subtle, yet this simplicity offers the ideal setting for Hamdan's deeply felt lyricism to take center stage. The album proves to be truly deserving of the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit specializes in haunting reworkings of archival audio. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected version of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound even further, filtering its signature synths and off-beat rhythm via layers of murk and static to create a new, menacing groove. At turns ambient and uneasy, Debit converts the celebratory party music of cumbia into a enduring, ethereal afterimage.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the operative word for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the propulsive sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the intensity, incorporating everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly hyperactive and deafeningly intense 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly exhilarating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually captivating combination of the metallic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her ornate Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the rolling tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving disco bass groove. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most diverse music yet. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the gentle jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a live band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, inviting the listener into the tender acoustics of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group merges the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a retro-70s aesthetic anchored in Yıldırım's strong high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They craft smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that give a novel, off-kilter spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including 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 woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
