Our Ten Best International Records of the Year 2025

Looking back on the musical landscape of worldwide sounds that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.

10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already

An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent percussion might not seem the most approachable musical proposition. But, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this persistent pulse into a hypnotically captivating album. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive dialect across the record's ten parts. The album draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as traditional Indian musical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a ongoing, pulsing refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of ceremonial music, luring the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.

9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

Coming off an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a melancholy collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced sound that established her as a fixture in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and introspective, singing delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a trembling, longing vibrato against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The production is lean and subtle, yet this austerity offers the perfect environment for Hamdan's expressive compositions to shine through. It is that justifies the long anticipation.

Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down

Mexican producer Debit has a knack for eerie reimaginings of archival audio. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby version of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, filtering its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via layers of distortion and hiss to create a fresh, menacing rhythm. Periodically atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit converts the celebratory party music of cumbia into a enduring, ethereal memory.

7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Sheer intensity is the key term for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and punishingly loud 40-minute sonic journey. Submit 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 music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably captivating combination of the sharp sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian singing style. Drum machine patterns echoes the undulating tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a fast-paced disco bass groove. It's a party blend created over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.

5. Enji – Sonor

Mongolian singer Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a live band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, inviting the listener into the warm soundscape of her distinctive voice.

4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow

Inspired by the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group blends the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They craft slinking, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that impart a fresh, quirky interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary 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 theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim