The 10 Greatest Worldwide Albums of 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide sounds that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten notable albums that characterized the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of cyclical percussion could sound like it isn't the most accessible musical proposition. However, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating work. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive vocabulary throughout the record's ten sections. His composition channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with Indian classical phrasing, everything tethered in the repetition of a persistent, thrumming refrain. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive world.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a melancholy set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that established her as a fixture in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is quiet and introspective, singing soft melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a trembling, yearning vocal technique over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The production is minimal and subtle, yet this simplicity provides the ideal environment for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to resonate. The album proves to be well worth the long anticipation.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for haunting reworkings of traditional music. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby version of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound down to a crawl, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of sludge and static to produce a new, sinister groove. Sometimes ambient and discomfiting, Debit transforms the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal afterimage.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the operative word for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a tumult of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the intensity, incorporating everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the assault and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely exhilarating.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album 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 strikingly captivating blend of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her fluid classical Indian singing style. Drum machine patterns mimics the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a driving walking disco bassline. It's a dancefloor fusion delivered over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music yet. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks range from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, drawing the listener into the tender acoustics of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Inspired by the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek blends the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with dreamy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They craft sinuous, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that lend a novel, unconventional interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse a vast range including 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
