Hailu Mergia ‘Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument: Shemonmuanaye’ (Kaifa, 1985 / Awesome Tapes FROM Africa, 2013)

Eyeless In Gaza were formed in Nuneaton in 1980 by hospital worker Martyn Bates and lab assistant Pete Becker.

As a fledgling fanzine writer, it seemed implausible that anyone would send anything resembling decent music to an outpost on the Wirral.

Though Hefner survive in the collective consciousness as the exemplar of an indie guitar outfit, the band deployed vintage synths and drum machines on later recordings. Which means that this, The French’s ‘Local Information’, isn’t quite the without-precedent one-off it might first appear.

"I was at the centre of the greatest story ever told and I’d never felt more alive."

Few music discovery anecdotes start with “I was rugby tackled by a man in a cinema because he liked my T-shirt”, but discovering Lancashire oddballs Element starts like that for me.

Tangerine Dream have released a lot of albums. The German electronic pioneers were so prolific that nobody quite knows how many LPs there are, though it’s thought to be around 160, all told.