The 10 Most Outstanding International Albums of 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of international releases that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten remarkable albums that shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent drumming might not seem the easiest musical proposition. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this persistent pulse into a hypnotically captivating piece. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a complex percussive vocabulary throughout the record's 10 movements. The work draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside traditional Indian musical phrasing, all anchored in the repetition of a ongoing, pulsing motif. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, luring the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive realm.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged sound that made her a staple in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is soft and introspective, delivering tender melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a quivering, yearning vocal technique against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The production is lean and subtle, yet this minimalism provides the ideal environment for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to shine through. It is well worth the long anticipation.
8. Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit excels at eerie reimaginings of historical sounds. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound even further, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through sheets of murk and noise to generate a novel, menacing beat. At turns atmospheric and unsettling, Debit morphs the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, spectral memory.
Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the operative word for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the intensity, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and deafeningly intense 40-minute sonic journey. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's bold productions become oddly liberating.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually captivating combination of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines doubles the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a driving funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend pioneered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most diverse music so far. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks range from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodies of slow-burning 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 ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, inviting the listener into the warm acoustics of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Drawing on the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group fuses the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a 1970s throwback sound grounded in Yıldırım's commanding high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. But, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They develop smooth, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that lend a new, quirky twist to the Turkish psych sound.
3. Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable 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 theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
