The 10 Best International Releases of the Year 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide sounds that defied expectations. We explore ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of repetitive percussion might not seem the easiest listening experience. However, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating album. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a dense percussive dialect throughout the record's ten sections. The album draws from minimalist concepts from Steve Reich alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the reiteration of a persistent, pulsing motif. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ritual music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative collection of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is soft and introspective, singing tender melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, longing vibrato against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and understated, yet this simplicity creates the ideal canvas for Hamdan's emotive compositions to take center stage. The album proves to be well worth the long anticipation.
Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico producer Debit excels at eerie reinterpretations of archival audio. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, filtering its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through sheets of murk and hiss to create a fresh, menacing groove. At turns atmospheric and uneasy, Debit transforms the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal echo.
Number Seven: DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the driving sound of urban celebrations. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up 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 frenetic and deafeningly intense forty-minute listening experience. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's bold productions become oddly exhilarating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly captivating blend of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the reed organ 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 channels a fast-paced disco bass groove. It's a party blend pioneered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia singer Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her broadest music to date. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the gentle jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, pulling the listener into the gentle acoustics of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with woozy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's powerful high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory. They create slinking, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that impart a novel, unconventional interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
3. Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
