The 10 Finest Global Records of the Year 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide sounds that expanded horizons. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent drumming could sound like it isn't the easiest listening experience. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating album. Directing an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive language throughout the record's ten parts. The work channels the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the reiteration of a ongoing, thrumming figure. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive world.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an hiatus of eight years, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and thoughtful, delivering 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, yearning vibrato over north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and understated, yet this simplicity offers the ideal environment for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to shine through. This is a record that justifies the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican producer Debit excels at eerie reimaginings of archival audio. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit slows this sound even further, processing its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of distortion and hiss to create a novel, sinister groove. Periodically atmospheric and uneasy, Debit morphs the exuberant party music of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal memory.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a tumult of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and deafeningly intense forty-minute sonic journey. Submit to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become unexpectedly liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an unusually captivating blend of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion mimics the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines replicates the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a party blend created over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her broadest music to date. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces travel from the soft jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still personal, drawing the listener into the tender soundscape of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek merges the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches vibrant new territory. They create sinuous, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that give a new, unconventional spin to the Turkish psych sound.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge 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 dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
