Our Ten Greatest Global Releases of 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global music that defied expectations. Presenting a selection of ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent drumming might not seem the easiest listening experience. Yet, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating album. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive language throughout the record's ten sections. His composition draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a continual, driving refrain. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an long absence, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-influenced sound that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and introspective, delivering soft 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 adopts a quivering, yearning vibrato over north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and understated, yet this simplicity offers the ideal setting for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to resonate. The album proves to be that justifies the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit specializes in uncanny reimaginings of archival audio. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby version of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, running its signature synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of distortion and hiss to produce a new, foreboding beat. Periodically atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal echo.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the operative word for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, incorporating everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute sonic journey. Give in to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become unexpectedly exhilarating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually compelling blend of the sharp sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her melismatic classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a driving funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. Enji – Resonance
Mongolian singer Enji's delicate new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most diverse music to date. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs travel from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, inviting the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a 1970s throwback sound grounded in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into dynamic new territory. They create sinuous, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that give a fresh, quirky interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore 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 dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
