For some reason Switzerland has a long tradition of noise / indie rock bands. Every other year another band seems to pop up with a full, energetic sound playing big walls of noisy guitars and melodies that are melodic and melancholic at the same time. Usually they release on very small labels, and especially Blu Noise Records always had a good nose to find them. The good old noiserock school of the Volcano Suns and even more so Mission Of Burma. And here is another good one, the trio Ventura from Switzerland, who stand out for a special clarity of sound and punching full chord riffs that nevertheless appear sweet and soft. Basically it is punkrock, but with the vocals mixed in the back and the drums to the front, more technical ability, less fun with destruction and the idea of not playing faster but heavier and louder. And with more variety and dynamics. Twenty four thousand people is a good example for this. The song hits a fast pace from the beginning, then wanders on until it grinds to a halt before the singer states f*ck them all in his best Leatherface fashion (the band, not the horror movie character) and then hits it again. And then the song is over, well below three minutes. And that is an important talent: to know what to leave out and what to keep inside the song, to make a noise rock song crunchy and tasty. Fascinatingly, the band rocks out wildly in each and every song but always stays well away from excess or over-abundance. Their wildness and distortion seems to be well controlled and focused. And this seems to add another layer of energy to the songs. True, sometimes uncontrolled explosions of feedback and noise are heavy experiences cleansing the soul and mind of the listener in a sort of cathartic experience. But during a whole ninety minute show it is hard to keep up that level. Actually it is hard beyond the twenty minute barrier, as it will start to get boring for the listener getting out of the first cleansing shockwave and then being confronted with the same over and over again. The kind of control exerted over their noise rock by Ventura guarantees dynamics and variation. A more mature and better approach if you asked me. But then again, I am an old sack and maybe if I were still in my early twenties I would prefer the trashing. Oh well, I don t think so. If I think about the bands that I am still listening to from ten or even fifteen years ago, those come to my mind that are less wild and orgiastic, like Unwound, Jets To Brazil, Nieselregen or God Machine. The latter probably the best comparison in regards to heavy distorted walls of strings and controlled full chord riffs. Also in the best fashion of old times the whole album is over in a little above 35 minutes. But there are many legendary records shorter than that and like I said above, it is better to take less time and deliver something with impact than to spread out and be wishy-washy. Because we recruit is a damn fine album, that combines heavy with soft in a special way. Ventura will probably reach a bigger audience come the summer when their seven inch will be released that they recorded together with noise rock legend David Yow, that you should know from Scratch Acid, Jesus Lizard and last Qui. (Not a lot of people have a band named after them.) On the other hand how big an audience will a vinyl seven inch reach these days. Better start a social media campaign to spread the thing for free on the internet to get the name out. Those people still buying seven inch singles (at seven pop a platter!) will buy it regardless." - Monochrom