🔗 Share this article The 10 Greatest Global Records of 2025 As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide releases that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that defined the year in music. 10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive drumming may not appear the easiest musical proposition. However, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive dialect across the record's 10 movements. His composition draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the reiteration of a continual, driving refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive world. Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget Coming off an long absence, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a melancholy collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and thoughtful, singing delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, yearning vocal technique against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and understated, yet this austerity creates the perfect canvas for Hamdan's emotive compositions to take center stage. It is truly deserving of the long anticipation. Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas From Mexico producer Debit has a knack for haunting reworkings of historical sounds. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, running its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of murk and hiss to generate a new, menacing groove. At turns atmospheric and uneasy, Debit morphs the exuberant party music of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly echo. 7. DJ K – Liberator Radio! Sensory overload is the operative word for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, throwing in 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 notably manic and punishingly loud 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely exhilarating. Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly compelling fusion of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music. 5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance From Mongolia singer Enji's delicate new release, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her broadest music so far. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, drawing the listener into the warm acoustics of her distinctive voice. Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa 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 merges the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic grounded in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into dynamic new territory. They develop slinking, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that lend a new, off-kilter spin to the Turkish psych sound. Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse 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 syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide releases that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that defined the year in music. 10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive drumming may not appear the easiest musical proposition. However, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive dialect across the record's 10 movements. His composition draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the reiteration of a continual, driving refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive world. Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget Coming off an long absence, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a melancholy collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and thoughtful, singing delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, yearning vocal technique against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and understated, yet this austerity creates the perfect canvas for Hamdan's emotive compositions to take center stage. It is truly deserving of the long anticipation. Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas From Mexico producer Debit has a knack for haunting reworkings of historical sounds. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, running its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of murk and hiss to generate a new, menacing groove. At turns atmospheric and uneasy, Debit morphs the exuberant party music of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly echo. 7. DJ K – Liberator Radio! Sensory overload is the operative word for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, throwing in 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 notably manic and punishingly loud 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely exhilarating. Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly compelling fusion of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music. 5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance From Mongolia singer Enji's delicate new release, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her broadest music so far. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, drawing the listener into the warm acoustics of her distinctive voice. Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa 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 merges the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic grounded in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into dynamic new territory. They develop slinking, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that lend a new, off-kilter spin to the Turkish psych sound. Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse 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 syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim