This 10 Best Global Records of 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global releases that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent drumming could sound like it isn't the easiest musical proposition. However, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring album. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a complex percussive language over the record's ten parts. His composition channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the reiteration of a persistent, pulsing refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged aesthetic that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and ruminative, singing tender melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a quivering, longing vibrato over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and understated, yet this austerity provides the perfect setting for Hamdan's deeply felt lyricism to shine through. The album proves to be truly deserving of the wait.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit specializes in uncanny reimaginings of archival audio. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound even further, processing its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via layers of distortion and noise to create a new, menacing beat. Sometimes ambient and discomfiting, Debit transforms the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly echo.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a cacophony of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the ferocity, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Give in to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become oddly liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually captivating fusion of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a party blend pioneered over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
Mongolian singer Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most wide-ranging music yet. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the gentle jazz-pop melodies 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. Featuring a live band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, inviting the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek blends the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with drifting keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound rooted in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They craft slinking, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that impart a new, quirky interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
3. Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary 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 interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
