There's a bloke called Steven Wilson. Some people might know of him from his solo albums and bands such as Porcupine Tree and Blackfield. There's a few other groups he's been involved with. I believe No-Man was the first of these act, and it included himself and a guy called Tim Bowness. A rotating cast of whoever did what they needed completed the lineup. They hardly ever do live shows, and usually in fairly small premises.
A few years ago, I bought the first No-Man album, Speak, and to be honest it left me cold for quite a while. However, it pushes its way back onto my playlist when working from home (I do this occasionally). When they released Schoolyard Ghosts a few years ago (2008?) it got positive reviews. YouTube and the sound samples on Amazon are good methods of finding out what you're getting in advance, and I gave them another go. It's a great studio album, but I couldn't help but wonder over the reason that they didn't appear live. However, my wife then gave me the live Love and Endings CD/DVD set last Christmas, recording sections from one of their occasional live appearances at Leamington Spa in 2011. Admittedly, there's always production on live albums that renders a lot of them pseudo-live, but there's been a lot of thought (and not a massive budget) put into this. My only criticism is that the CD is a bit quiet to be heard over the noise from my very basic car.
Disappointingly, the band has been put on indefinite hold as Steven Wilson's schedule is too full. So, after finding out that there was a live act I should have had more faith in than I did, it looks like I'll never get the chance to see it. Not that I'm a great fan of crowds.
A link to the song I listen to most days, one that received one of the lighter makeovers, called Wherever There Is Light:
Live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsJEAOpZLTI
Studio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3T2iJ715ss
