Our 10 Best Worldwide Releases of This Past Year

As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the global sounds that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that characterized the year in music.

10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

An album consisting of a single, extended movement of cyclical drumming could sound like it isn't the easiest listening experience. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a hypnotically captivating album. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a dense percussive language over the record's ten sections. The work references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the recurrence of a continual, thrumming refrain. Over its duration, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive universe.

Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

After an hiatus of eight years, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a mournful collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced aesthetic that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is soft and thoughtful, delivering delicate melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, yearning vibrato over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and restrained, yet this simplicity creates the perfect canvas for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to take center stage. The album proves to be well worth the wait.

Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down

Mexican producer Debit specializes in haunting reinterpretations of historical sounds. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound even further, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via sheets of distortion and noise to produce a new, menacing rhythm. At turns atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit morphs the exuberant party music of cumbia into a enduring, ethereal echo.

Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!

Sensory overload is the operative word for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become oddly exhilarating.

6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly engaging blend of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.

Number Five: Enji – Resonance

From Mongolia singer Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her broadest music so far. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the soft jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word 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 live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still personal, drawing the listener into the tender acoustics of her unique voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow

Channeling the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group merges the electric jangle of the electrified saz with drifting keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. But, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory. They create smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that give a new, unconventional twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Orchestrating 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 interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim