4 Ayaléw Mèsfin

Good Aderegechegn You say: “Apparently, he wrote his first songs at gunpoint. Responds very well to pressure.” Basil Anderson, via Facebook

Most of his output slipped through the Éthiopiques net, so Mèsfin must be secondrate, right? Hang your head in shame. Working with the Black Lion Band, the singer released approximately 20 singles between 1973, when he was 18, and 1977, packing them with fuzz guitar, handclaps, organ and horns – giving him a sound worthy of the best hardworking US soul outfits. One take, no overdubs. In collaboration with Mèsfin, Now-Again have simulated five LPs he might conceivably have issued, but start here: the garagepunk-funk of Hasabe (My Worries) – written in an attempt to simultaneously emulate both James Brown and Jimi Hendrix – will reel you in.