Our 10 Most Outstanding Worldwide Records of 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of worldwide sounds that expanded horizons. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of insistent percussion might not seem the most approachable listening experience. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a strangely alluring work. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive vocabulary across the record's 10 movements. His composition channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the recurrence of a continual, pulsing figure. Over its duration, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive realm.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a mournful album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged style that established her as a fixture in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and thoughtful, singing soft melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, yearning vocal technique over electronic lines with North African flavors and clattering electronic percussion. The production is minimal and subtle, yet this austerity offers the perfect canvas for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to resonate. It is well worth the wait.
Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico producer Debit specializes in uncanny reimaginings of historical sounds. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected take of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound even further, processing its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via sheets of murk and static to generate a fresh, foreboding groove. Periodically ambient and unsettling, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, spectral memory.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sheer intensity is the operative word for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of neighborhood block parties. On his follow-up release, 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 unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the assault and Vieira's brash productions become oddly liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually captivating combination of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her fluid classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the rolling tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid created over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music so far. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the soft 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 sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, drawing the listener into the tender acoustics of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with drifting keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They create slinking, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that lend a fresh, quirky spin to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore 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 reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
