The 10 Greatest Worldwide Records of 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global releases that pushed boundaries. We explore ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of repetitive drumming may not appear the most accessible listening experience. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating work. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive vocabulary throughout the record's 10 movements. His composition references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a persistent, driving figure. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged aesthetic that cemented her status in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and thoughtful, delivering delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, longing vocal technique over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and restrained, yet this simplicity creates the ideal environment for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to take center stage. It is well worth the long anticipation.
Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico producer Debit excels at haunting reworkings of archival audio. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound down to a crawl, processing its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via layers of distortion and noise to generate a novel, sinister rhythm. At turns atmospheric and unsettling, Debit morphs the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly memory.
7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the operative word for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a cacophony of alarms, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, 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 frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely liberating.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly captivating fusion of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her ornate Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion mimics the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional 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 channels a driving disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion created more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the soft jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a full backing band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, inviting the listener into the gentle acoustics of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek merges the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's strong high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They develop slinking, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that impart a novel, unconventional interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through 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 woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
