Lionface

Bristol’s Kat Marsh might be best remembered as bassist from ‘The King Blues’, but with that accolade firmly in the past, she’s quickly moving forward under new guise ‘Lionface’.

The single ‘Blue Heart Rate’ is the latest offering of brilliantly twisted electronic pop, a taster of what can be heard on upcoming EP ‘Beast’. Typically Kat’s vocals drill above the scatterings of industrial sound but within a moment can be quipped into a delicate melancholy.

Lionface will play five-dates across the country, stopping at The Garage in London on 1st November three days prior to the EP release itself. Until then, check out the latest single through this soundcloud link. - Rhys Buchanan (London On The Inside)

Here at Green Man Music we like to think that it is our task to pile away the mask of mainstream, the glossy sheen of modern marketing that blinds the eyes of the music fan and expose the more fulfilling, worthy and interesting music that lies underneath. Music being made by grass roots and soon to be breaking bands that are obscured by the industry rush to sign the next 4 million album selling act or the TV reality show cash artist. They may have their eye on the stadiums but we have our eye on the ball.

Even in the fickle realms of pop land all you have to do is strip away the tacky dance routines, the lack of style and substance of the ever more gratuitous marketing (yes Miley, we do mean you) and the disposable songs and you get down to a layer of more fertile soil. It is the soil that allowed bands such as Young Kato, Auction For The Promise Club and Warpaint to blossom and grow. It is in this same soil that we now find Lionface.

Lionface (aka Kat Marsh) is better known as being the bassist and second vocalist for London punks The King Blues, but now with here own musical vehicle and a Peter Miles (Dry The River, We Are The Ocean, The Skints) produced e.p. Following on from the much acclaimed Run For Cover, Beast and it’s lead single, Blue Heart Rate offer a slick taste of subversive pop. Mixing Kat’s compelling vocals with diva-esque crescendo’s, gang vocals, industrial samples and dark dance grooves, the result is a swift kick in the teeth to mainstream pop. - Green Man

Lionface is the recording name for Bristol’s Kat Marsh who some may recognise as the bass-player and second vocalist for the now defunct London ukulele punks, The King Blues.

Following the success of the ‘Run For Cover’ EP back in February, Lionface has just unveiled a new single, “Blue Heart Rate” which is lifted from the upcoming EP entitled ‘Beast’. And wow, “Blue Heart Rate” is indeed an absolute beast.

During its first 60 seconds, “Blue Heart Rate” circles around Massive Attack territory both vocally and musically before, leaping out from nowhere, a distorted, low-end-heavy bass and punk-vocal snarl combine delivering the line “blue heart rate gives me away”, promptly punching the listener smack in the face. From here the song then explodes with a Muse-like enormity and into what is quite literally the biggest sounding chorus you’ll hear all year. In fact, its so big it’s almost theatrical. Yet for all its volume, power and energy the chorus of “Blue Heart Rate” also contains sugary pop hooks.

Impeccably produced by Peter Miles [The King Blues, Dry The River, We Are The Ocean, The Skints], “Blue Heart Rate” features a thundering production of industrial drums, rock guitars, orchestral strings and fat-bass wobbles, “Blue Heart Rate” is all capped off stunningly with Kat’s incredible and powerful vocals. All in all, we can’t think of a more dynamic track this year.

The EP ‘Beast’ will be released on handcrafted limited edition CD (individually numbered out of 200) and digital download on 4 November, 2013. Pre-order now. - Sound Advice

It is oft said that "resistance is useless", and this applies so well to Lionface's new single 'Blue Heart Rate' that you may as well have it tattooed across your forehead. This is a sonically stunning hit, so irresistible that it will leave you with no choice but to succumb to it's kaleidoscopic fuelled majesty. Lead-track of her upcoming EP 'Beast', it entices you in with some hushed soundscapes and seductive, whispered tones. Slightly deeper in and a shuffling beat envelopes you, then you are floored with the barely controlled maelstrom, of mesmerising, compelling delight that is 'Blue Heart Rate'.

It has a a bite so deep that it doesn't let go. When finished it brings out a hunger so raw that it is only abated with many more listens. Like Shirley Manson slam-dancing with The Naked And Famous while Kate Bush and Trent Renzor make some erotic pact to dominate you, this will barely fulfil you while you wait to hear the full EP in a few weeks. It can't come quickly enough. - Jay (Sound of Confusion)

You may recognise Lionface (Bristol’s Kat Marsh) as the charismatic bass-player and second vocal for London punks The King Blues. Rising from the ashes last year with a powerful sound to call her own, her new EP, ‘Beast’ – is due for release on 4th November.

The follow-up to February’s much acclaimed ‘Run For Cover’, this new offering is a blinding piece of subversive alt-pop. Led by Kat’s compelling vocal, it touches on everything from industrial samples to diva-esque crescendos; creating something thundering and unique.

Produced by Peter Miles [The King Blues, Dry The River, We Are The Ocean, The Skints], ‘Beast’ will be released on handcrafted limited edition CD and digital download. - The Flaneur

Here's a new one for you, The King Blues bass player Kat Marsh has revealed her new project Lionface - a seething, restless ball of electric, industrial-tinged pop metal.

Yeah, we know, but it's actually really good. Rising from the ashes last year with a powerful sound to call her own, she now claims yet more ground with her new EP, ‘Beast’ - release date 4th November.

Produced by Peter Miles [The King Blues, Dry The River, We Are The Ocean, The Skints], ‘Beast’ will be released on handcrafted limited edition CD and digital download. - Glasswerk

Ci sono musicisti che passano tutta la vita a suonare nella stessa band gratificati dalla formula musicale originaria che generalmente si sposta di poco (o non si sposta proprio) rispetto a quanto fatto negli esordi. E poi ci sono altri musicisti a cui va stretta una sola band e sentono uno sfrenato bisogno di esprimersi sotto altre forme musicali. Kat Marsh fa parte della seconda categoria di persone, milita nella punk band londinese The King Blues ma da Febbraio di quest’anno ha deciso di lanciarsi nel progetto personale Lionface realizzando l’ep Run For Cover. L’attitudine ruvida potrebbe vagamente ricondurla alla sua band ma le sonorità prodotte hanno una lasciva patina elettronica, ai confini con l’industrial, contornata da un colorato pop radiofonico (ascoltando alcuni pezzi mi sono venuti in mente i “Nostri” Jolaurlo). La musicista di Bristol pubblicherà il prossimo 4 Novembre un nuovo ep dal titolo Beast prodotto sempre da Peter Miles (The King Blues, Dry The River, We Are The Ocean, The Skints). Il primo singolo estratto dal mini album è anche la traccia che lo apre, “Blue Heart Rate”, il cui video diretto da Daniel Broadley la vede come protagonista adescata da due creature notturne che tentano di trasformarla in uno di quegli esseri dai canini lunghi e appuntiti tanto in voga in questi anni grazie alla vampire-saga Twilight, e poi a ridosso di Halloween cade pure a fagiuolo.

Aggiornamento 08/11/13: “Beast ep” è uscito da qualche giorno (puoi acquistarlo qui) e le tracce che lo compongono sono in streaming tramite il player sottostante. Un buon modo per approfondire o avvicinarsi all’alt pop della musicista inglese. - Shiver

ELECTRIC HARMONY REVIEWS
228851_233267030044016_3543889_n228851_233267030044016_3543889_nHome Reviews Live Interviews Journalists
Lionface
Review by Clara Taylor
www.facebook.com/lionfacemusic
Kat Marsh, or ‘Lionface’ as she’s better known, is definitely a force to be reckoned with. ’Lionface’ and ‘Beast’ being very apt ways to describe her sound.

This month she’s released her second EP, the follow-up from her February offering ‘Run for Cover’. However Marsh hasn’t fallen in to any one particular genre, instead adopting an abundance of contrasting genres and making them her own. Listening to her tunes, it’s obvious that she has a very diverse musical influence. She could easily be Portishead, Garbage, Blondie and Joan Jett all rolled into one.

One of our own, Lionface is a Bristolian singer-songwriter and bassist who has been very busy making a name for herself on the South-West music scene. She has been gigging in popular music clubs such as The Exchange and The Birdcage, as well as getting her tunes out on the airwaves via BBC Introducing…

It’s amazing what can be achieved in a year and if the success of 2013 is anything to go by, I’d wager we’ll be hearing a lot more from her.

Beast by Lionface is out now. - Clara Taylor (Electric Harmony)

Some may recognise Lionface as the bassist and second vocalist for London punks The King Blues. Rising from the ashes last year with a powerful sound to call her own, she now claims yet more ground with her new EP, Beast, which has just been released and is currently streaming on Soundcloud.

Beast is the follow-up to Run For Cover, and is a blinding piece of subversive alt-pop. Led by Kat’s compelling vocal, it touches on everything from industrial samples to diva-esque crescendos.

Check it out below. - Natalie Humphries (Soundscape)

Lionface (her mum calls her Kat) used to be the bass player for skank rockers The King Blues. Listening to ‘Beast’, her second solo EP, I find that a hard connection to make. Rather than dishing out barely listenable politico-ska, Kat has decided to swim in the warm beckoning waters of electro-pop.

And rather wonderfully, she's very good at it. ‘Beast’ has three tracks, and two of them are stone cold pop brilliance. The first track is ‘Blue Heart Rate’, which starts off with Kat emulating Alison Goldfrapp's airy falsetto, over a Prodigy drum beat. Come the chorus though, it all kicks off, and Kat unleashes her vocals. Imagine a less aggravating Ellie Goulding and you're broadly in the same area.

Middle track is 'Good Story'. Driven by a distorted organ sound and collaborator Adam Wherly's drums, 'Good Story' is a sultrier, soul affair. It's still pop all the way through, but the good kind of pop. Like a kind of auditory Malibu and coke rather than a generic alcopop. 'Good Story' gives Kat a chance to show off her vocal strength, and she really goes for it. Thankfully she resists the current trend of trying to sing every note all at once all the time.

I said that two of the three tracks on this EP were fantastic, and they are. It's just a shame that the third track, 'We Rise', is merely good. Something about this track leaves me cold, and I just cannot explain why. Maybe the fact that it sounds a bit All Saints meets Kelly Clarkson? Or maybe that the lyrics are a bit limp (sample lyric: “We will rise, 'cause there’s nothing to stop us”)? I am willing to concede that the track is good and my musical taste is rubbish, but if you forgive me I’ll just listen to the first two tunes.

Lionface make great pop music, and should be hugged to Bristol's collective bosom. Get on the hype train before the wider world discovers her. - James Swatton (Live Music Scene)

Melodic synths and sinister infused electro sounds, this a one record that’ll certain grip your ears. Beast EP is the new record from Bristol female artist Kat Marsh aka Lionface and comes with such confidence. Step aside Katy Perry, Lionface is ready to roar with her powerful and captivating vocals alongside her sinister, electrifying and gripping sounds. Blue Heart Rate (our track of the week) is striking indeed as well as We Rise and Good Story, it’s a well balanced EP and one that has certainly made us a fan of her music. Verdict 4.5/5 - The Flux (record of the Week)

The definition of Party Rock. They are simply awesome! - Kerrang Radio, Alex Baker

This is perhaps the biggest departure we’ve heard from self-proclaimed ‘spooked-out electronic party-core rock n roll’ outfit The Hit-Ups to date. But let’s not say we weren’t warned. These guys have been developing in new and exciting ways over-and-over, as coming of age and coming into their own consolidate in 2012. Hitting quiet / loud just right, ‘A Turn At Twelve Paces’ comes from deeper waters. It’s a dark horse of a slow burner that sits perfectly The Hit-Ups’ now very diverse repertoire, showing us just what they’re made of. Another FOF/008 exclusive, expect wet guitars and a perfectly sparse arrangement that crescendos into a deeply affecting final minute. ‘A Turn At Twelve Paces’ hides behind nothing, and The Hit-Ups just got cooler than cool.
For Fans Of: Does It Offend You Yeah?, Desaparecidos, The Rapture, Rage Against The Machine, Jamie T. - Fear of Fiction

In the words of the recently departed Adam Yauch – you gotta fight for your right to party. The Hit-ups are endorsing those rights with nitro fuelled enthusiasm and hell for leather commitment. What an electrifying puree of sounds and styles – rock, punk, rap, ska, psychedelia, theatre - all thrown into the liquidiser and blended into a high octane smoothie that goes straight up the nose and impales itself deep into the cerebral cortex.

These guys have a sense of fun as well as a sense of rhythm. Their wit is evident in some of their titles – not only their own name but the wickedly brilliant hybrid caption of their EP ‘Whordes’ together with tracks such as ‘The Holy Coast’ and ‘Tropicarnage’. They ooze excitement, and bubble and burn like paint stripper. The Hit-ups are to music what Banksy is to magnolia! They hit you like a Tazer and send the muscles into involuntary spasms.

They are deliberately bolting together component parts with the force of a rivet gun – anarchy, joy, decadence, baseball caps, monsters and masks into a vortex that assaults the senses. Hell knows what Josh Hughes-Games does to repair his vocal chords after a gig but given the exuberance with which he attacks the songs his throat must be dripping blood. This band has a six speed gearbox but they’ve ripped out the first five gears, and brakes weren’t even an optional extra. This is not for those of a nervous disposition or a weak heart. Open your mind and let them hot-wire your neurones and then let them take your emotions for a joy-ride.

And behind that razor-wire voice is a well-oiled machine that keeps pumping the horse-power. Lyrical drumming adds motivation not just migraine and the guitars cut like an oxyacetylene torch with demented riffs and warp-speed passion. Add a splash of synth and the concoction is complete. It would be an understatement to describe the music as infectious. More accurately it’s as virulent as a pandemic. If you see them in the flesh then be thankful you come out alive, but know for certain you will come out changed. Even the Large Hadron Collider would be hard pushed to produce as much energy as this crew.

But don’t be mistaken into thinking this is just a mosh-pit of pandemonium and perspiration. Beneath the morass lies musical ambition. The proof lies in the instrumentation and structure of their songs – manifest care in composing pieces that have musical integrity but which can then be used as coat-hooks on which to hang vibrant and volatile performances. What could easily have become just a wall of sound is decorated with little guitar motifs, odd bits of distortion and melodic ornamentations that energise it to another level.

And although they have chosen to live in the musical equivalent of a lunatic asylum, be assured that they are the warders and not the inmates. This is the soundtrack to a new generation – the pulsating life-force flowing through the veins of the here and now. This is nuclear fusion exponentially expanding through word of mouth and felt through vibrations along the floor.

The band probably sum themselves up best in their own words, the refrain repeated with self-confident exhilaration in ‘Infinity Black Magik’ – We intend to live forever. What better mission statement from five big talents with a big, big sound on the verge of something much, much bigger. - Electric Harmony

The Hit Ups have been slowly honing their sound for a while now, wetting our appetite with last year’s free download of Unforgivable / 66sexy. They’re back with new synth-led and menacing DIOYY-esque textures, but still leaving that nasty Hit-Ups taste in your mouth. Unexpectedly, many of the lulling down-parts on the record are actually quite emotive, before (of course) a debauched chorus inevitably tears you a new one.

The Whordes EP is released March 26th, order it here:

www.thehitups.com - Fear of Fiction

The Hit Ups: ‘parties, death, girls, drinks, werewolves, disco, mistakes, trainwrecks, skulls...’ They’re the self-styled ghosts of dancefloor partycore – plenty heavy but light on their feet, lustily fusing spooky electronic stabs with jagged riffin’ heft. Rap-rock is all too often a pile of shit, but frontman Josh Hughes-Games keeps it on the right side of wrong, wringing out just enough pathos amid the party howl. ‘66Sexy’ is a sinister booty-call, a howl of lust at a taken woman; ‘Unforgivable’ brings a jauntier disco lunge that – like everything THU do – makes most sense from the sweaty mess of a moshpit. (Mike White) - Venue

The Hit-Ups are a rawkus 5-piece electronic disco-death, party-core, rock ‘n’ roll band. Their sound is described as “ceiling scraping, reverb-drenched guitarscapes which are underpinned by snappy breaks and rock steady bass grooves” (Venue). Don’t Panic Bristol caught up with them recently so see what life was like being a Hit-Up and what’s next on the cards for these Bristol boys.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing the Hit-Ups live yet, you truly haven’t lived! Their amped-up synth-laden post rap style whips audiences into a sweaty-moshing frenzy, their music gathers a sense of energy that is unpredictable: leaving audiences bouncing off the roof and hungry for more!

The Hit-Ups currently have a 2 track EP available for free download on www.thehitups.co.uk. Unforgivable’s crushing rhythms and progressive beats reveal a darker side to the Hit-Ups usual mood of disco-chaos, whereas 66sexyis a feisty torrid tale with eloquently Rage-esque lyrics offset by hefty bass and guitar riffs.

DP. Hey there, you guys are the Hit-Ups then? What are your names and what do you do?

HU. We're Nick, Josh, Charlie, Lewis and Samuel. We play guitars, bass, drums, synths, pads, Keyboards, buttons, Samplers and vocals!



DP. Nice to meet you! So what sort of music can we expect hear you guys playing?

HU. Loud Electronic Disco-Death, Spook Pop, Party-Core, Rock 'N' Roll.



DP. Sounds exciting, are you guys all from Bristol?

HU. We're all originally from Bristol but now we're a bit spread out across the South.



DP. Good work! So how do you normally go about the music making process?

HU. Normally we build our songs into something huge and then strip them back playing with our tones, beats, sounds and levels as we go; our process is quite varied and changes every song. Everyone has things to bring so depending on what outcome we want from a song we might start with drums and work up or just start with an idea for a vocal and work back; more often that not it starts with a couple of riffs and we build around that.



DP. Where do you draw your key inspirations?

HU. I think as artists we take a lot of inspirations from all over the place and different artists inspire different parts of our performance. For example, our live ethos comes from bands like Pulled Apart By Horses, Every Time I Die, Turbowolf, Eagles of Death Metal, Gallows, and Queens of the Stone Age. But when we’re recording we’re drawing from artists like Does it Offend You Yeah?, Fare Soldi, MSTRKRFT and bands like Foals & The Rapture.



DP. What would you say is more important to you guys, recording or getting out there and doing the live shows?

HU. Recordings have always been a means to an end for us. When we record we put everything in to the tracks, but once they're done they are a tool. That’s why we’re giving away the new tracks. We're at a point where we just want people to know our name and be passing our tracks around. Live shows are where we sell ourselves. We want people to leave shows hungry. If your live show can’t back up your recordings you’re not doing it right. We keep our shows unpredictable; we want people really bouncing off the roof so we’ve got to be doing that too.



DP. What have you got lined up for 2011 for us to look forward to?

HU. We're already back in the studio recording. We were writing so much new material we decided to get 'Unforgivable / 66sexy' out as a taster to people. We’ll also be releasing a new track called ‘We’ll Take It To The Grave’ around May and just studio-nerding until the rest are ready.

The Video for our song ‘66sexy’ has just come out and we’re shooting the beginning of the ‘Unforgivable’ video at a house party in Brighton soon.

Then we’ll just be playing playing playing, doing as many festivals as we can possibly get on and getting around the UK. - Dont Panic