The 10 Finest Global Records of the Year 2025

As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the global sounds that expanded horizons. We explore ten notable albums that characterized the year in music.

10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent drumming could sound like it isn't the most accessible musical proposition. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring work. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive vocabulary across the record's ten parts. The work references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the repetition of a ongoing, driving figure. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive universe.

Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember

Following an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a melancholy album of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced style that made her a staple in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and thoughtful, delivering tender melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a trembling, yearning vibrato over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and clattering electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and subtle, yet this minimalism creates the perfect canvas for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to shine through. The album proves to be truly deserving of the long anticipation.

Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down

Mexican producer Debit has a knack for uncanny reimaginings of historical sounds. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound even further, running its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through veils of sludge and noise to produce a fresh, menacing groove. At turns ambient and discomfiting, Debit converts the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, spectral echo.

Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!

Maximalism is the operative word for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the ferocity, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly liberating.

Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an strikingly captivating fusion of the sharp sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a driving walking disco bassline. It's a party blend created more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.

5. Enji – Sonor

From Mongolia singer Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music yet. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs travel from the gentle 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 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, pulling the listener into the gentle acoustics of her unique voice.

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

Inspired by the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the electric jangle of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound rooted in Yıldırım's strong high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They develop slinking, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that impart a novel, unconventional spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Orchestrating 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 rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim