Much preferred Blankenberge. Both Russian bands attempt to release the recovered memory of former melancholy. But the Berge sound like adults extending and refining their wistful experience until, climactically, it breaks into a rush of joy. The Nurns seem youngsters toying w/ Joy Division's sound architecture w/o the emotional depth or musical experience to fully inhabit its existentially sorrowful space. Shoegaze trumps New Wave, at least in my match up.
I'm prepared to cut Nürnberg some slack, having experienced myself how hard it is to get any traction in the music biz. Everyone has their influences, including Joy Division (Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Brian Eno, even Jim Morrison) so it's not surprising they'd emulate something they clearly respect. Better that than to struggle endlessly to come up with your own signature sound, which is even harder today than back then because the field is so saturated, part of the reason I abandoned most western music. Bear in mind, it's their first kick at the cat, so not bad when you take that into account.
That said, I agree that Blankenberge has a much better sound and are far more sophisticated in their approach. A lucky combination since they're fairly new at it as well, plus they have some serious constraints, not the least of which is they live in different cities, made necessary by their career choices. That's usually it for a band, but they seem to have overcome that somehow, meeting when possible and exchanging ideas and tracks via the net. A lot of their material was produced that way, in fact I don't believe they've ever all been together at one time and place for a recording session. Hard to keep up the momentum under those conditions but they seem to have done it, which speaks to their love of the art. I expect we'll be hearing more from them eventually.
Morrison was the inspiration, lyrics and focal image of the Doors. But Manzarek was hugely influential in creating the Doors' sound. Goth seems to be the genre they most influenced. I like the melancholy sound and fashion sense, but consider most goth bands weak in comparison to the Doors. None can sing theatrically like Morrison, well maybe the late Peter Steele of Type O Negative. He had a strong voice at least.
I like these tracks, and this is not really my normal oeuvre.
Much preferred Blankenberge. Both Russian bands attempt to release the recovered memory of former melancholy. But the Berge sound like adults extending and refining their wistful experience until, climactically, it breaks into a rush of joy. The Nurns seem youngsters toying w/ Joy Division's sound architecture w/o the emotional depth or musical experience to fully inhabit its existentially sorrowful space. Shoegaze trumps New Wave, at least in my match up.
I'm prepared to cut Nürnberg some slack, having experienced myself how hard it is to get any traction in the music biz. Everyone has their influences, including Joy Division (Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Brian Eno, even Jim Morrison) so it's not surprising they'd emulate something they clearly respect. Better that than to struggle endlessly to come up with your own signature sound, which is even harder today than back then because the field is so saturated, part of the reason I abandoned most western music. Bear in mind, it's their first kick at the cat, so not bad when you take that into account.
That said, I agree that Blankenberge has a much better sound and are far more sophisticated in their approach. A lucky combination since they're fairly new at it as well, plus they have some serious constraints, not the least of which is they live in different cities, made necessary by their career choices. That's usually it for a band, but they seem to have overcome that somehow, meeting when possible and exchanging ideas and tracks via the net. A lot of their material was produced that way, in fact I don't believe they've ever all been together at one time and place for a recording session. Hard to keep up the momentum under those conditions but they seem to have done it, which speaks to their love of the art. I expect we'll be hearing more from them eventually.
Morrison was the inspiration, lyrics and focal image of the Doors. But Manzarek was hugely influential in creating the Doors' sound. Goth seems to be the genre they most influenced. I like the melancholy sound and fashion sense, but consider most goth bands weak in comparison to the Doors. None can sing theatrically like Morrison, well maybe the late Peter Steele of Type O Negative. He had a strong voice at least.