Facing New York: Get Hot

"Cops On Bikes," the latest single from Oakland

prog band Facing New York, might seem a shoo-in for a novelty hit, but it

couldn't be a worse candidate. Eric Frederic's delivery is too casual, the

politics are too playful, and the music is too different to make the song an

easy fit for radio. (Rage Against The Machine, African highlife, and Led

Zeppelin all come to mind.) That goes a long way toward explaining why the band

isn't more popular, and why Get Hot is worth discovering. There's something perfectly

out of vogue about "Hardwood Floors," which sounds like Donald Fagen exploring

The Neptunes' sound; "How Gong I'm Gonna Be Lawn," a stormy epic of the King

Crimson variety; and the spoken word of "Me N My Friendz," which could sit

comfortably on a Barr record. Percussion, groove, and old-fashioned honesty are

the glue that binds together Get Hot's many disparate ideas; what reads on paper like

a bit of a jazz/rock/psych car wreck is actually a sturdy work that's artful as

well as entertaining. It's ironic that FNY lost two members and produced Get

Hot

themselves—these are the band's most full-bodied songs yet. Most

importantly, Frederic and his cohorts seem comfortable enough in their own

skins to be as unhip as they want to be, and all the better for it.