Our Ten Best International Releases of This Past Year

As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide releases that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.

Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already

A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive percussion might not seem the most accessible listening experience. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating piece. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive dialect across the record's ten parts. The work draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the repetition of a continual, driving figure. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, luring the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive universe.

Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember

After an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a contemplative set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged style that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is quiet and thoughtful, delivering delicate melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a trembling, yearning vibrato over electronic lines with North African flavors and clattering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and restrained, yet this austerity creates the ideal canvas for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to resonate. This is a record well worth the long anticipation.

Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down

From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for haunting reimaginings of traditional music. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, filtering its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through layers of distortion and hiss to create a novel, foreboding groove. Periodically atmospheric and unsettling, Debit transforms the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, spectral afterimage.

Number Seven: DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Maximalism is the defining principle for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of urban celebrations. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the ferocity, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and punishingly loud forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the assault and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely liberating.

Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually engaging blend of the synthetic sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her fluid Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines doubles the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion delivered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.

5. Enji – Resonance

From Mongolia vocalist Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her most diverse music to date. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodies of downtempo 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 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, inviting the listener into the gentle acoustics of her singular voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow

Inspired by the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's strong high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds lively new territory. They craft slinking, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that impart a novel, quirky spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty

Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse 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 woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim