Our Ten Most Outstanding Worldwide Records of the Year 2025

Looking back on the musical landscape of international music that expanded horizons. Presenting a selection of ten notable albums that defined the year in music.

Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already

The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive percussion could sound like it isn't the most approachable musical proposition. But, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating piece. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a intricate percussive vocabulary across the record's 10 movements. His composition references Steve Reich's phasing motifs combined with Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the repetition of a continual, driving refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive realm.

9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

After an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy set of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced sound that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and ruminative, delivering delicate melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a trembling, yearning vocal technique over north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The production is lean and restrained, yet this austerity provides the perfect environment for Hamdan's deeply felt lyricism to take center stage. The album proves to be that justifies the long anticipation.

8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas

From Mexico producer Debit specializes in haunting reimaginings of historical sounds. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby take of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, processing its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through veils of sludge and noise to create a novel, menacing rhythm. Periodically atmospheric and uneasy, Debit converts the celebratory party music of cumbia into a persistent, spectral echo.

Number Seven: DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Maximalism is the defining principle for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the ferocity, incorporating everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and punishingly loud 40-minute sonic journey. Submit to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly exhilarating.

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 reissued gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably captivating combination of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her melismatic classical Indian singing style. Drum machine patterns mirrors 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, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a party blend delivered over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.

Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor

Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most diverse music to date. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration 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. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her unique voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow

Channeling the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the metallic twang of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches vibrant new territory. They craft smooth, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that lend a novel, unconventional spin to the Turkish psych sound.

3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty

Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim