I saw him in leeds in 2014 or so. I went cos i wanted to see the support more (cut hands/william bennett) but the gig was seated, in some opera hall, so was a really weird atmosphere gig. Brightly lit, all these moody hipsters in beanies sat down with their lagers in plastic cups, ushers looking flustered. Helm opened, was very good, just droning about. Cut hands was unbelievably disappointing, sort of like karaokeing with himself and flailing/dancing, but it was so quiet it was pointless. Was gonna go but ended up staying for opn and it was better than i thought it would be, basically a well built droney set that got really loopy towards the end. Just weird tho, cos the venue straightjacked everyne, including him. At the very end some lad down the front let out a ‘whoop’ and he smiled and it was like, why are we listening to this sort of music in this venue?
Ive tried to get into him a few times and cant really muster much enthusiasm. He feels like american lee gamble / 10s version of dj shadow. Much prefer hype williams/dean blunt, but i wouldnt even bracket them the same music. I love those safdie films hes done the tunes for but i dont actually like the soundtracks all that much, find them too intense. Definitely uncut gems the music really spoils it, takes it out of the time theyve carefully crafted. . I do quite like that ecco jams tape but you gottabe in the mood cos its so bewildering.