The Ten Best International Albums of the Year 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international releases that expanded horizons. We explore ten remarkable albums that shaped the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of cyclical drumming may not appear the most accessible listening experience. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive vocabulary over the record's ten parts. The work references Steve Reich's phasing motifs combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the recurrence of a ongoing, pulsing refrain. Over its duration, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of ceremonial music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive world.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an hiatus of eight years, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged style that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and ruminative, singing soft melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, longing vibrato over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and subtle, yet this simplicity creates the ideal canvas for Hamdan's deeply felt lyricism to take center stage. This is a record well worth the wait.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican producer Debit has a knack for eerie reimaginings of historical sounds. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, filtering its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via sheets of murk and hiss to create a new, sinister beat. Sometimes atmospheric and unsettling, Debit morphs the celebratory party music of cumbia into a enduring, spectral memory.
7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the key term for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a cacophony of alarms, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the intensity, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably frenetic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly exhilarating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably captivating blend of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her melismatic classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a up-tempo walking disco bassline. It's a club-ready hybrid created more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her broadest music yet. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodics 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-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains close, drawing the listener into the warm acoustics of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Drawing on the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group blends the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They create slinking, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that give a fresh, quirky spin to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
