This Ten Greatest Global Records of This Past Year

The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global sounds that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that characterized the year in music.

10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already

A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive drumming could sound like it isn't the most approachable listening experience. But, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a strangely alluring piece. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar crafts a intricate percussive vocabulary throughout the record's ten sections. His composition references Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the recurrence of a continual, thrumming motif. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, luring the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive realm.

Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

Coming off an long absence, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan returns with a mournful collection of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged style that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and introspective, singing tender melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, longing vibrato against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and clattering electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and understated, yet this minimalism provides the ideal setting for Hamdan's deeply felt lyricism to resonate. This is a record well worth the wait.

Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas

From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at haunting reinterpretations of traditional music. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound down to a crawl, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via layers of sludge and static to generate a fresh, foreboding rhythm. Periodically ambient and unsettling, Debit converts the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, ethereal afterimage.

Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!

Sensory overload is the operative word for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of urban celebrations. 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. Give in to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become oddly liberating.

Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an unusually compelling fusion of the metallic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a fast-paced disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid created over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.

5. Enji – Sonor

Mongolian singer Enji's gentle new release, 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 veer from the soft jazz-pop melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, pulling the listener into the gentle soundscape of her singular voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa

Drawing on the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek merges the electric jangle of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They craft sinuous, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that impart a new, quirky interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty

Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim