Higher Grade

Dynamo Hum: “Shake Marilyn Monroe” (Shagrat Records) / Congregation: “Higher Grade” (Fire Records)

As you might expect from a band that includes some former Screaming Blue Messiahs, Dynamo Hum groove to a distinctly Beefheartian r’n’b. Indeed, they sound a little like SBM might have sounded if someone hadn’t had the silly idea of grooming that titanic trio for the bland American market. ‘Shake Marilyn Monroe’ chants out over the mesmeric rhythms and gets the old solar plexus gyrating with a swamp-like intensity. Congregation, meanwhile, chug along like a cocktail of The Kinks and Wire and shuttle out some clever lyrical dexterity. They generate enough cleverly caustic social satire to make you look forward to the other three tracks on their promising disc.