This Ten Best Worldwide Releases of This Past Year

The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global sounds that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.

10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent drumming might not seem the most approachable musical proposition. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this persistent pulse into a hypnotically captivating piece. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a intricate percussive dialect across the record's ten sections. The work draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a ongoing, thrumming figure. Over its duration, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, luring the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive realm.

Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

Coming off an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is quiet and thoughtful, singing delicate melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, yearning vocal technique against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and skittering electronic percussion. The production is lean and understated, yet this simplicity offers the perfect canvas for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to shine through. This is a record that justifies the wait.

Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas

From Mexico producer Debit has a knack for eerie reimaginings of historical sounds. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound even further, filtering its signature synths and off-beat rhythm via veils of distortion and noise to create a novel, menacing rhythm. Periodically ambient and uneasy, Debit transforms the joyous party music of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly afterimage.

7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!

Sheer intensity is the operative word for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a cacophony of alarms, pummeling 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 second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the intensity, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly manic and punishingly loud 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely freeing.

6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably captivating fusion of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a up-tempo funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.

5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor

Mongolian singer Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most wide-ranging music yet. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word 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 full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, pulling the listener into the warm soundscape of her unique voice.

4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa

Drawing on the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek blends the metallic twang of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches vibrant new territory. They develop slinking, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that lend a new, off-kilter interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty

Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim