Our 10 Best International Albums of 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global releases that defied expectations. We explore ten notable albums that characterized the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of cyclical percussion may not appear the most approachable musical proposition. However, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating album. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a dense percussive vocabulary across the record's ten sections. His composition draws from minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a persistent, driving motif. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ritual music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive universe.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a melancholy album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged aesthetic that established her as a fixture in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and introspective, delivering tender melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a trembling, yearning vocal technique over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and clattering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and subtle, yet this minimalism creates the perfect setting for Hamdan's deeply felt compositions to shine through. The album proves to be well worth the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico producer Debit excels at eerie reimaginings of historical sounds. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby version of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, running its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of murk and noise to create a new, foreboding beat. Sometimes ambient and uneasy, Debit morphs the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal echo.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the operative word for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics over the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, incorporating everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly liberating.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an remarkably captivating fusion of the metallic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her fluid Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns echoes the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines parallels the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend pioneered over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most diverse music so far. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the gentle 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 lively, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, drawing the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with dreamy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a 1970s throwback sound grounded in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. But, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into dynamic new territory. They craft slinking, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that impart a fresh, off-kilter interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
