This 10 Most Outstanding International Albums of 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international music that defied expectations. Presenting a selection of ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive drumming could sound like it isn't the most accessible musical proposition. However, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive vocabulary throughout the record's ten sections. The work references Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as traditional Indian musical phrasing, each grounded in the recurrence of a persistent, thrumming refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of devotional music, luring the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive world.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-influenced style that established her as a fixture in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is soft and introspective, singing tender melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a trembling, longing vibrato over electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and understated, yet this minimalism provides the ideal setting for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to resonate. It is well worth the wait.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican producer Debit excels at haunting reworkings of traditional music. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, processing its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through layers of distortion and noise to generate a new, menacing groove. Sometimes atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit transforms the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly echo.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the operative word for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Submit to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly freeing.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a reissued gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly captivating blend of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her fluid Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns mimics the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a driving funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia singer Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most diverse music to date. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the soft jazz-pop melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration 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. Showcasing a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, drawing the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group fuses the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's strong high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds vibrant new territory. They craft sinuous, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that give a new, unconventional interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
3. Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
