This Ten Greatest Global Albums of 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the global music that defied expectations. We explore ten exceptional albums that characterized the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent drumming may not appear the easiest musical proposition. Yet, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this persistent pulse into a strangely alluring album. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive vocabulary throughout the record's ten parts. His composition draws from minimalist concepts from Steve Reich alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the repetition of a persistent, pulsing refrain. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive world.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a mournful set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced aesthetic that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is soft and ruminative, singing tender melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a quivering, longing vibrato against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and restrained, yet this simplicity provides the perfect setting for Hamdan's expressive compositions to shine through. This is a record well worth the wait.
Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at eerie reinterpretations of archival audio. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, processing its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via layers of murk and static to create a fresh, menacing groove. At turns atmospheric and unsettling, Debit converts the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, spectral afterimage.
Number Seven: DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably hyperactive and punishingly loud forty-minute sonic journey. Submit to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become strangely exhilarating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an remarkably compelling fusion of the synthetic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody parallels the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion delivered over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her broadest music so far. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks travel from the soft jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, inviting the listener into the gentle acoustics of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the electric jangle of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches dynamic new territory. They craft smooth, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that impart a new, off-kilter spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
