Our Ten Top International Releases of 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international music that expanded horizons. Presenting a selection of ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on cyclical drumming might not seem the most accessible listening experience. However, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating work. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive vocabulary across the record's ten sections. His composition draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a persistent, pulsing refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative set of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that cemented her status in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and ruminative, singing delicate melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, longing vibrato against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and subtle, yet this minimalism creates the perfect canvas for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to resonate. This is a record well worth the long anticipation.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit has a knack for eerie reimaginings of historical sounds. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound even further, running its signature synths and off-beat rhythm via sheets of murk and static to create a new, sinister rhythm. Periodically atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit transforms the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, spectral echo.
7. DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably frenetic and punishingly loud 40-minute sonic journey. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's bold productions become strangely freeing.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably engaging combination of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the rolling tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her broadest music to date. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces travel from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, pulling the listener into the warm soundscape of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Drawing on the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group fuses the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a retro-70s aesthetic grounded in Yıldırım's strong high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They craft sinuous, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that lend a new, quirky spin to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements all come together 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 a vast range including the liturgical vocals 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. Yet, it is Pim
