Couple other reviews for you here
Fri 12.7.18 - “let me be unwound” is the album of the day over at Bird is the Worm. Thanks to Dave Sumner for the kind words
https://www.birdistheworm.com/album-of-the-day-let-me-be-unwound-by-weird-turn-pro/
9.23.18 - "Processes, identities and interpretative packages in the music of the Weird Turn Pro” , by Italian reviewer Ettore Garzia. Some great thoughts about Katrine Hildebrandt’s beautiful art in here, too:
http://ettoregarzia.blogspot.com/2018/09/processi-identita-e-pacchetti.html
Roughly translated text:
There is a point where the ideas of the pianist Mike Effenberger, his band Weird Turn Pro , the creator of the covers of the CDs Katrine Hildebrandt, and the journalist-writer Hunter S. Thompson, obviously called into question by a clear quote: it is the passion for the process, understood as a set of elements to be followed (each within the sphere of their sector of belonging) in view of an identity. Discovering one is like putting together centuries of history in a Ferris wheel in which each cabin brings its own contribution. Mike got in touch with me a few months ago, proposing his two musical works, and I, after having framed what I was listening to, immediately went in search of identities:
1) the reference to Thompson becomes fallacious from the musical point of view if we think that the music of the Weird turn pro can recall the fateful "fuel" that moved the musical tastes and the character of the inventor of the gonzo journalism; there is neither drugs, nor impervious raids, nor alcohol in the thought of Effenberger and musicians; on the contrary, there is the fragrance and the beneficial effect of jazz. This entryway is however particular because it introduces to a sort of ethereal flow of the memory of the jazz tradition, in which the improvisation material requires the participants to create constant updates in real time of the melodies and the emissions.
I would say that among the maxims of Thompson, the one best suited to the group of Effenberger is that contained in The Proud Highway , when the writer states that: " .... Every reaction is a learning process; every significant experience alters your perspective. So it would seem to be foolish, would it not, to adjust our lives? How could we ever hope to accomplish anything anther than galloping neurosis? ... "Hunter S. Thompson from The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967.
2) The change of perspective that adapts minute by minute in the act of development, serves not only to frame the creative process but also to arrange with reasoning congruous what seems disordered; the beautiful drawings of Hildebrandt confirm that behind the study of sacred geometries, there is the will to find a meaning to this mysterious relationship that is always fought between chaos and disorder and that everything is in the process implemented (Katrine uses flexible processes that involving compasses, burning pencils, layered papers).
3) The idea of Effenberger is also enriched by another element in addition to jazz, that is a minimalistic piano system that frequently returns to the club to mix with the band's developments; it is not about the minimalism of Glass or Reich, but that of the specialists of modern classical, which filter nostalgia and harmonies in a few notes or chords. The predominant and fundamental aspect of The Repeatedly Answered Question (October 2017) and above all of Let me be unwound (July 2018) is that the music as a whole resembles a "paste" toothpaste, a compact rubber that is really difficult to find around the world: the jazz standards, Carmichael, the Blue Note quartets / quintets, the orchestras Gil Evans or the moderately free jazz groups of the sixty run together in the listening experience, as in a quarantine everyone creeps in his turn and the benefit is that of the production of a changing sound: the notes are lengthened, the densities are also appreciated at closing the ear, the vibrations of music flow like a river bed and what seems obvious for jazz is not anymore.