10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A 40-minute suite of continuous, repetitive drumming might not sound like the most accessible music but south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar’s latest album, There Is Beauty, There Already, turns this concept of insistent rhythm into strangely alluring work. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive language throughout the record’s 10 movements, channelling Steve Reich’s phasing motifs as well as Indian classical phrasing and anchoring each in the repetition of a continual, thrumming refrain. As the album continues, the refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial rhythm, drawing us further into Korwar’s percussive world the longer we listen.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an eight-year break, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a mournful collection of songs expanding on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced sound that has made her a staple of the region’s indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan’s voice is quiet and ruminative, singing tender melodies over the bowing strings of Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows, while on livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, yearning vibrato over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The production is sparse and understated yet that minimalism provides the perfect setting for Hamdan’s emotive songwriting to shine through. Well worth the wait.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
Menacing grooves … Debit. Photograph: Monse Guajardo
Mexican producer Debit has a knack for eerie reinterpretations of historical sounds. In 2022’s The Long Count, she used samples of Mayan flutes to create a new electronically filtered musical language for the ancient instruments and on her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby take on the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit slows this sound even further, processing its signature synths and syncopated beat through layers of sludge and static to produce a new, menacing groove. At turns ambient and discomfiting, Debit turns the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly echo. Read the full review
7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the key term when it comes to the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of “bruxaria” (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian dance style of baile funk to emulate the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the intensity, adding everything from techno kick drums to the Islamic call to prayer into his bruxaria mix, creating a particularly frenetic and punishingly loud 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the noise and Vieira’s brash productions become strangely liberating. Read the full review
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Rediscovered gem … Mohinder Kaur Bhamra performing in Bedford, circa 1980. Photograph: Courtesy of Kuljit Bhamra
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra’s 1982 album of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Recorded by her son Kuljit, a music producer, Punjabi Disco’s 10 tracks deliver an unusually engaging combination of the metallic sound of synthesisers and drum machines with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla and synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar, while bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It’s a dancefloor fusion delivered over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion. Read the full review
5. Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji’s gentle fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most wide-ranging music to date. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian “long song” singing, the record’s 11 tracks veer from the soft Norah Jones melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui and the sprightly, funk-inflected cover of 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a full backing band, rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor’s sound is still intimate, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Turkish with a twist … Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek
Drawing on the 60s legacy of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım’s third record with her band Grup Şimşek blends the metallic twang of the electrified saz with woozy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It’s a 70s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım’s powerful falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels’ analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s song Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory, developing slinking, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that lend a new, off-kilter twist to the Turkish psych sound. Read the full review
3. Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings 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 traverse everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and syncopated dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It’s Pimienta’s indefatigable voice that is the star, though, floating from yearning intimacy on Quiero Que Me Beses to the fierce full-throated harmonies of Busca la Luz, taking on her mighty symphonic backing with ease. Read the full review
2. Negros Tou Moria – Mavri Ellada
Dextrous flow … Negros Tou Moria. Photograph: Giannis Stasinopoulos
Athenian rapper Negros Tou Moria has made his name over the past decade for coining the genre “trabetiko” – a blend of the Greek working-class folk music of rebetiko with trap. On Mavri Ellada, he supplants folk melodies for a more raw, hard-hitting sound, rolling through the sub-bass and baritone verses of Samatas to the Afrobeats groove of An Einai Dinaton, the bouzouki motifs of the title track and pumping dancefloor synths of PragmatiKotita. Armed with a dextrous flow, an open ear for unusual production and fierce lyrics on his country’s response to immigration, NTM establishes himself as a rap talent moving far beyond the Greek scene. Read the full review
1. Titanic – Hagen
Delightfully unconstrained … Titanic. Photograph: Jasmine Salvino
Fearlessly experimental, Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti has ranked high in more than one of these global end-of-year lists, including for the enveloping introspection of 2021’s solo effort Será Que Ahora Podremos Entendernos? and 2023’s Vidrio, her freewheeling debut as Titanic with her multi-instrumentalist partner Hector Tosta. For their second Titanic release, Fratti and Tosta are delightfully unconstrained, playing through the metal blastbeats of Gotera, 80s stadium synth-pop of Lágrima del Sol, slinky funk of Escarbo Dimensiones and the post-rock moodiness of La Gallina Degollada. An arresting, consistently surprising record that truly sounds like nothing else. Read the full review
