Just this past week Kasabian, the new Oasis-come-beacon of hope for fresh sounding guitar wielding music in many peoples opinion, declared that all other bands are scared of their own creative talents (See NME article here). In their eyes others are fearful that they might actually conjure something which diverts from the typical 'norms' of their given genre. Despite the minor over-exaggeration and somewhat bigheaded self promotion, I cant help but partially agree with them. I say partially because the main issue is not that the bands are whimpering shadows of the 'glory days of music', but because fans have become so critical, band's must produce the sounds that are 'expected of them'. This, in effect, means that no band can experiment with different sounds without the mob turning up at their door and calling for their heads on a stake. Rant over, this brings me nicely onto our new subjects for review; Our Time is Now, who are by any stretch of the imagination, different.
Their new EP 'If you can drink big mans beer, you can solve big mans problems' (obviously never having witnessed a drunkard attempt to fill in his tax returns) is a colourful audible experience. The only possible way of describing it is similar to that feeling when your drinking a bottle of water which you decide to put down for a brief moment; then when you pick it back up it's mysteriously been replaced with someone else's bottle of vodka masquerading in an identical water bottle. In short, when you take a drink, or a listen if you insist on returning back to the actual review, its a surprise. But in the words of kasabian, we could all do with some surprises.
First of all their EP does not even contain a title track, those edgy bastards. Our Time is Now have actually chosen to keep the EP relatively short and sweet with only two tracks; Made Mistakes, Got Regrets and Smoke Out The Window. This could be due to some lucrative promotional tactic of wetting the musical lips of their fans with a taster of what's to come. However I feel that it is far more probable that the band, in creating the EP, wanted the whole process to be over as fast as physically possible in order to get their music out there, which unfortunately may be reflected in the latter of the tracks Smoke Out The Window.
Under no circumstances am I saying that the track is bad, quite the opposite in fact. Each band members individual influence and idea of what the track should sound like has been considered and asserted resulting in more of a musical evolution rather than one specific genre. In that sense it is rather impressive that the song progresses, with a contrast between melodic vocals, reggae and ska inspired drums and guitar and catchy bass in the earlier stages, then finishing with a guitar solo which is so British it arguably deserves a place in Noel Gallagher's back catalogue. Whilst I am completely open to, and encourage combinations of genres, I feel that this particular song lacks a sense of direction, which in all fairness is only to be expected from a young band's first EP.
Rather than dwelling on this criticism, I believe it is vitally important to highlight what is truly impressive about this band's work to date, which appears in the form of their main track Made Mistakes, No Regrets. The attention to detail for this track, which was presumably created within a limited space of time, is remarkable. Everything from the very britpop sound of the outdoors preceding the songs start (contextually pointless but a very nice touch nonetheless), to the addition of atmospheric synth in the chorus makes this an altogether more cohesive track. The tracks foundations also seem more stable, each individual band member displaying their ability to create catchy rhythms which interlink to make an altogether more precise listening experience.
If this band do feel a crippling sense of indignation towards their critics, they do a very good job of hiding it. Through If you can drink big mans beer, you can solve big mans problems they have displayed a willingness to experiment with sounds which others may steer well clear from. Both their name and their sound suggest that this band feel its the dawn of a new musical era, and if they're at the forefront of it I'm sure they will take great delight in pissing all over my, and in fact everyone else's disparaging comments. Our Time Is Now certainly have the potential and ability to develop their sound into something which is quite unique. 2012 will almost certainly be the year where we will undoubtedly find out if there time is indeed now...unforgivable ending I know.
Seek: Facebook ; ourtimeisnow.co.uk
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