This 10 Top Global Records of the Year 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide music that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of repetitive percussion may not appear the most approachable musical proposition. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring work. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive language across the record's ten sections. His composition channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as traditional Indian musical phrasing, everything tethered in the recurrence of a ongoing, driving figure. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of ritual music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced style that established her as a fixture in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is gentle and thoughtful, singing delicate melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a quivering, longing vibrato over electronic lines with North African flavors and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and restrained, yet this austerity provides the ideal environment for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to shine through. This is a record that justifies the long anticipation.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico producer Debit excels at haunting reworkings of archival audio. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby version of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, filtering its signature synths and off-beat rhythm through sheets of sludge and static to produce a novel, sinister groove. At turns ambient and discomfiting, Debit converts the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly memory.
7. DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the driving sound of urban celebrations. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, adding everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly manic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer 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 engaging blend of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her fluid Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most diverse music yet. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer 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 sprightly, funk-inflected 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 remains close, drawing the listener into the tender soundscape of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek blends the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with drifting Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds lively new territory. They craft smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that impart a novel, quirky spin to the Turkish psych sound.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging 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 dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
