Okay, if I'm wrong I might be wrecking this bands plan, but I'm more concerned with illegal activity.

The band Minehead has appeared and their bio clearly states that isn't their real name… and the band member names match up with their real names. While this could be the real bands attempt to have a lark, it could also be a sneaky way to illegally upload the tracks. Is there a way to find out, Sam and/or James?

All the names here are associated with the band in some way. I agree that any fan could get this info but it seems to be "Authentic" live tracks from the ATP show. Or so I have been told.

I have a bootleg of the show (the quality of the uploaded tracks is slightly better than what I have), but I double-checked… they're the legitimate tracks. Alas, that doesn't mean it was the actual band who uploaded them. But — to be honest — I did send them an invitational e-mail yesterday… but that turn around time seems kinda quick based on past experience.

Geoff seems to be pretty quick with internet type stuff. Did you send the message through myspace perhaps? At any rate I am super happy to hear this music although Portishead may be a little big for the site. Let's hope it is the band uploading this stuff.

P.S. Where did you get the bootleg? ;)

I sent the e-mail to a random address at their website in the mere hope they were set to catch them all. I'm not a MySpace person. But, with any luck, it is them.

I got the recording of the show from Deaf Indie Elephants, which is an amazing music blog. You can find the post
here.

It's hard to tell, but I think the tracks posted are of slightly better quality than these, but they are good, clean recordings.

I just checked the Minehead page again. I gotta say, I love the profile image… the way the P is made out of B in OBEY is great.

Nice. A buddy of mine just emailed Geoff Barrow who is very good at responding to questions and asked if the songs were uploaded by them and if not to check it out. I guess we shall see soon enough if it was.

One point of good news is that they were logged in to myspace today which means they were active around the time the songs dropped. Thanks for the link!

Excellent news, eatabagel. Then we shall know soon enough! I'd love it if this was indeed them, but I merely have my concerns regarding this.

I have messaged the band on myspace and I've actually had luck corresponding on there with Geoff before, so maybe I'll hear something. The similarity of the "obey" in their avatar here and their 'They Live' "Obey" avatar on myspace is the most convincing piece of evidence for me that this is really them.

Can someone provide me a link to their MySpace page? I'm kinda curious now…

http://www.myspace.com/portisheadalbum3

Odds are they are legit. The email that was provided correlates with the bands website. Hopefully Sam won't be mad but he has told me this. The only way to know for sure is to contact the band and we have done this.
Good Deal!

Thanks for the link, unstuckintime. Noticed a slight revamp of your profile pic too. :)

And, eatabagel, I'm glad to know that everything seems on the up and up. I didn't mean to be a rabble-rouser, but I — honestly — had serious doubts as to the legit nature of the uploads.

That all said: They get MASSIVE "thumbs up" from me for posting under a guise instead of their known name; let the music speak for itself, so to say.

Yes, let the music speak for itself. I am a little confused as to the major neglect that is being shown to these songs. It's Portishead for pete's sake and people are passing it bye. I am not one to Judge others taste in music but I can't believe how little attention this is receiving.

Well, the ruse worked for all of ten minutes. Now there are comments all over the profile and all three of the songs which ought to clue people in pretty quick unless they're just flipping through.

I think the neglect might be due to the name change… it says something that all the tracks they've posted aren't over 400 bumps already. So yes, Virginia, there is name association related to sales (or bumps).

Okay, those outtakes they posted probably shouldn't be massing the great bumps — but I don't think they were intended to. Those are more like a little something for the fans.