This 10 Greatest International Albums of the Year 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of worldwide sounds that expanded horizons. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive drumming could sound like it isn't the easiest musical proposition. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive vocabulary over the record's ten sections. His composition references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the recurrence of a persistent, pulsing refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of ceremonial music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive realm.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged aesthetic that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and ruminative, delivering tender melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a trembling, longing vibrato over electronic lines with North African flavors and clattering electronic percussion. The production is lean and restrained, yet this minimalism offers the perfect canvas for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to resonate. This is a record that justifies the wait.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at haunting reinterpretations of traditional music. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, processing its signature synths and off-beat rhythm via sheets of distortion and static to produce a new, sinister groove. At turns atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit converts the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, ethereal afterimage.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the operative word for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of urban celebrations. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly manic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's bold productions become oddly exhilarating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually engaging blend of the sharp sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her melismatic classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a driving disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion created over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia singer Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her broadest music so far. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks range from the gentle Norah Jones-esque 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 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, inviting the listener into the warm acoustics of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek blends the metallic twang of the electrified saz with drifting keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. However, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory. They develop sinuous, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that give a fresh, unconventional twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse everything from 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. Yet, it is Pim
