Our 10 Best Worldwide Records of the Year 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the global sounds that expanded horizons. We explore ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of insistent percussion may not appear the most approachable listening experience. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this persistent pulse into a strangely alluring album. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a dense percussive dialect across the record's ten parts. The work draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the reiteration of a ongoing, pulsing refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a mournful album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-influenced aesthetic that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and ruminative, singing delicate melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, longing vibrato over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is sparse and restrained, yet this minimalism offers the ideal setting for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to resonate. This is a record truly deserving of the wait.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican electronic artist Debit specializes in uncanny reimaginings of historical sounds. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant 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 signature synths and syncopated rhythm via veils of distortion and static to create a novel, foreboding groove. Periodically atmospheric and uneasy, Debit morphs the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal echo.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the defining principle for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the intensity, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become oddly liberating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably captivating fusion of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid delivered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's gentle latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her broadest music yet. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the soft jazz-pop melodies 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-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, pulling the listener into the gentle acoustics of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group merges the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's strong high register 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 finds vibrant new territory. They craft sinuous, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that lend a new, quirky spin to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse 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 reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim