Our 10 Best Global Releases of 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of international music that pushed boundaries. We explore ten remarkable albums that shaped the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of cyclical drumming may not appear the most accessible musical proposition. Yet, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a strangely alluring piece. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive vocabulary throughout the record's ten sections. The album references Steve Reich's phasing motifs combined with traditional Indian musical phrasing, everything tethered in the recurrence of a continual, pulsing motif. As the album progresses, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive realm.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan returns with a melancholy collection of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that established her as a fixture in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. 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. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a wavering, yearning vocal technique against electronic lines with North African flavors and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and restrained, yet this austerity creates the ideal setting for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to shine through. It is truly deserving of the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican producer Debit specializes in eerie reworkings of historical sounds. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound even further, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm via sheets of sludge and hiss to create a new, menacing groove. At turns ambient and unsettling, Debit converts the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, ethereal memory.
7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the operative word for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the intensity, adding everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute sonic journey. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly exhilarating.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly captivating blend of the sharp sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines doubles the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a driving walking disco bassline. It's a party blend pioneered over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia singer Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her most wide-ranging music to date. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range 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 sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, drawing the listener into the tender acoustics of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Drawing on the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group fuses the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with drifting keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a 1970s throwback sound rooted in Yıldırım's strong high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They craft smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that give a fresh, quirky spin to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore everything from 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. Yet, it is Pim
