Bleep

Following the 25th anniversary edition of their Roseland NYC Live album, Portishead release two tracks left out of the remasters, making Live 1998 a truly essential pickup. The trembling sunbleached shreds of ‘Sour Times’ are taken straight out of a western, met with swishing jazz cymbals, minimal yet plunging bass plucks, wobbling vinyl scratches, and lyrics enunciated with emotional might, climaxing in a tremolo sure to knock the wind out of you. The audience forms a sea of claps to the despondent yet infectious groove of ‘Roads’, Beth Gibbons’ voice cutting through it all beside rippling wah tones and a rapturous instrumental breakdown.