This Ten Best Worldwide Albums of 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global music that expanded horizons. Presenting a selection of ten notable albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on cyclical drumming could sound like it isn't the most accessible musical proposition. But, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this persistent pulse into a unexpectedly magnetic piece. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive vocabulary over the record's ten parts. The work channels the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside traditional Indian musical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a persistent, thrumming figure. Over its duration, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a mournful collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, 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 ruminative, singing delicate 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 trembling, yearning vocal technique over north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is sparse and understated, yet this simplicity offers the ideal canvas for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to take center stage. The album proves to be well worth the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican producer Debit specializes in haunting reworkings of traditional music. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby take of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, running its signature synths and off-beat rhythm via layers of sludge and static to create a novel, sinister beat. At turns atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit converts the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly memory.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sheer intensity is the operative word for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a tumult of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly manic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become strangely freeing.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a reissued masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually engaging combination of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most wide-ranging music yet. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the soft jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, drawing the listener into the warm soundscape of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Drawing on the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group fuses the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches vibrant new territory. They craft slinking, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that lend a new, unconventional twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member 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 dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
