Mountain Records label test Bandcamp

The label has decided to post a presence on Bandcamp. This is being done in the spirit of being an indie label and to raise our profile in this avenue. 

Here is the link - https://mountainrecords1.bandcamp.com/

We will begin to post one release (track) from various artists. Perhaps we will choose the flagship release in each case. Bandcamp offer a high quality download which we hope appeals to "real fans". 

The first act showcased in Zayn Adam with his big hit, GIVE A LITTLE LOVE accompanied by Pacific Express. 

New Remix Feat. Errol Dyers

The late Errol Dyers contributed substantially to the album called, Musical Democracy by The Cape Jazz Band (CJB) project.  He played guitar on numerous other albums, including those of Basil Coetzee and Robbie Jansen. However his work on the CJB release may have been the last album he worked on before his untimely passing on 21 July, two years ago.

Errol Dyers (c) Songwrights Publishers

One of the songs on that album is a song brought by Stephen Erasmus to the songwriting session.  He called to ABREM. The others at that session were band leader and drummer Jack Momple, Ramon Alexander on keyboards, Stephen on bass and Errol on acoustic guitar.

Link to a clip of the songwriting session -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvJfcnLHOIw

It was a bluesy down tempo track with a Gospel feel to start with, which the quartet jazzed up a bit in the re-arrangement, as the day when on.

Stephen Erasmus (c) Songwrights Publishers

Stephen did not initially tell us what ABREM meant. Only when we got to the recording at Milestone Studios, did he say that those are the initials of Alex (van Heerden), Basil (Coetzee), Robbie (Jansen), Ezra (Ngcukana) and (Winston) Mankunku, all departed friends.


The first arrangement of the song featured a moody drum intro of several bars long from Jack and then the band came in.  The song lasted for nearly 9 minutes of groove, solos and repeated heads.



At the studio Errol swopped to his electric guitar and did a short rehearsal of the beginning of the song as a sound check of sorts. Engineer, Murray Anderson happened to recorded it and I later decided it should become the intro to the song.

Once on the electric guitar, Errol made the song his own, being the strongest melody instrument.  During the take of the bass, Stephen sang along as a guide. Not all the lyrics were there yet, which was not necessary for a guide.

L to R, Errol, Stephen and Ramon - 26th July 2012 - Milestone Studios
(c) Songwrights Publishers.

Murray, who did the final mix and co-produced the album with me, came up with a mix including Stephen's vocal guide and we decided to go with that version on the album. Although it fitted the album package, I felt it did not realise it's full potential and should feature Errol more to do so.

Not long after Errol's passing Allou April suggested we do a tribute track, but it did not come off. I later thought we should re-do the ABREM track. Murray did the re-mix and edit, turning it into a blues guitar instrumental. We cut the track down to almost half its original length and pushed up the guitar a bit, as well as a few other changes to the geography.

To honour the memory of Errol we have re-named the new version of the cut, ABREM (Departed Friends), and will release it shortly before the anniversary of his passing.

Download link - https://music.apple.com/jp/album/a-b-r-e-m-departed-friends-single/1464991020?l=en

Download link to the CJB album - https://music.apple.com/jp/album/musical-democracy/686872386?l=en




Paddy Lee-Thorp, June 2019

Single from Dizu Plaatjies

A re-worked version of a track from Dizu Plaatjies award winning album, African Kings, has been prepared for release as a single.

Link to the track - PLAY

The track is called Danse Afrika. It has been mastered specifically for mobile device play with an eye on the streaming platforms like Spotify. The track gained quite a bit of attention when the album was released and members of Dizu's band, Ibuyambo described it as a "township shabeen hit" because it was played a lot in Cape Town township pubs.

The original title is Giya Kasimore - Danse Afrika . The song was written by Dizu in the 1980s and formed part of his live repertoire at the time. The newer version is a bit more pop/dance in its production style, though still with neo-traditional elements.

RIP Errol Dyers, a quiet genius of the guitar.

It is with deep sadness that I heard last night of the passing away of one of the humble giants of South African Music, Mr Errol Dyers. My condolences go out to this family and friends.

Errol Dyers live on stage circa 1982 - (c) P Lee-Thorp

There are many personal moments, some hilarious, that come to mind when I think of Errol.  Some of these are too embarrassing to mention publicly, though none that I regret. I will remember him as a gentle, polite man and a highly talented, some might say old school musician.

He had a long career working with many of the bigger and lesser known names in SA music. My association with Errol goes back to the 1980s, before he focussed his attention on Jazz. He was a talented rock guitarist and session man who played in pop bands and my first chance to work with him was when he supported Lesley Rae Dowling as one of the musicians who played in her live band.

It was as a recording artist and songwriter that I knew Errol best. Firstly as part of the Robbie Jansen group. We were working on Robbie's debut solo album, Vastrap Island,  and Errol was involved in the pre-production sessions. As it turned out he contributed 2 compositions to that album and of course played on the final recordings.

In his later years Errol became more interested in the cultural side of the music he played and he moved to explore the Cape roots more deeply. Our paths crossed many times after the first recordings as a regular member of Robbie's band and as a session player on other productions for my label. In particular I am grateful his part in the tracks on the Cape Jazz records we released.

Later while performing with Basil Coetzee as a part of his duo, having replaced the late Paul Abrahams, Errol came to the studio with Basil to record on what was to be Basil's final solo album, B.  Errol contributed 2 songs to that album as well.

Errol Dyers in Milestone Studios July 2012 - (c) P Lee-Thorp

I was very happy to have his contribution to the last project I worked with him in 2012 and 2013, doing the Cape Jazz Band project, Musical Democracy. He was a full member of the line-up and played on most of the album tracks and contributed as composer and arranger to at least 4 songs. His cheerful Goema melody, NY 29 (Native Yard 29) on that record typifies his style.

Errol was a versatile player with the ability to play different styles on acoustic and electric guitar and he did it with his own personal approach and character.  He will be greatly missed by all in the Cape music scene.  I am comforted by the memory of his friendship and thankful for the many recordings he did for Mountain Records.

A snap of Errol live at Swingers in 2013 in Cape Town, possibly the last time we met.  (c) P Lee-Thorp

Paddy Lee-Thorp
Hamburg, Germany.

Quarter Tone Guitar album launch in Amsterdam

Dutch guitar player and composer, Jan Wouter Oostenrijk will launch his new album, We are Connected with a concert in Amsterdam on the 28th May.

He will play with his trio at the Mezrab (formally the Wilhelmina Pakhuis), Veemkade 576, Amsterdam.  The evening will be opened with a set by a local world DJ at 19.00 with the live band on stage at 20.00 .

Jan Wouter, Live in Tunisia, Pic - Houcem Boudaya

The album issued on the Mountain Records label, features songs written by Jan Wouter specially for his quarter tone guitar. The instrument is a 1980s Fender Strat rebuilt by an Amsterdam luthier, Gijs de Wit,  to accommodate the Arabic scales used in the recordings.

Jan Wouter has referred to north African music in his previous albums but until now not had the comfort of a guitar able to produce the required notes. We are Connected is described as Maghreb Rock and is a blend of European and African music.

Link to album details - About the songs - Mountain Records releases
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/track/3Pm9N9yMrudDOOKn9mwoWK
iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/we-are-connected/id1222228434

Jan Wouter quarter tone guitar project, release date set.

The street date for Jan Wouter Oostenrijk's new quarter tone guitar album has been set. The album will be released on the 26th of May 2017.

Titled, We are Connected, the Rock Maghreb album is the next release on the Mountain Records label. The title refers to the cross over in the musical styles between western rock and African music. It also avers to the idea of people with differing cultural roots being connected through music.

This quarter tone guitar project is particularly interesting because Jan Wouter had to re-build the fingerboard of his 1981 Fender electric guitar in order to be able to perform the music he had written. The songs are inspired by north Africa, and make use of arabic musical scales.

Jan Wouter has a number of previous albums to his name in Jazz and Blues but this time he has recorded a progressive Rock album. The band is a classic, drums, bass and guitar line up adding some guitar and percussion overdubs.

The album is all instrumental. Initially the release will be available as a CD and through digital distribution sources.
Pic - Arnold van der Zee

Mountain Records to issue Compact Album by Rock Maghreb guitarist

Part of the answer to the search for an economically viable alternative to the old album format is the Compact Album.

Mountain Records will issue the new project of north African inspired sounds by Dutch guitarist, Jan Wouter, as a compact album.

Asked what this means, the label owner Patrick Lee-Thorp explained as follows. "Consumer trends away from the old 60 plus minute album have devastated most labels. Young fans, in some genre, consume music in track sized bites and they select their favourite album tracks on personal playlists leaving out much of the album content. In addition the price of online sourced music makes a retail album of €17,00 un-competitive. By issuing 6 songs on an album of appox. 30 minutes in length, we reduce the production bill and distill the artistic statement."

"One of the highest costs in album making is the post recording production, this includes multiple mixes and additional overdubs to get the tracks to the point of satisfaction of the artist. So after the initial sessions, a decision is made about which tracks will be taken further. Depending on the pre-production process, this does leave some takes on the cutting room floor, but by a process of natural selection I think the important ones survive. This concentrates the creative energy on fewer tracks."

"Jan Wouter sent us rough mixes and the selection process began. He had some support for his production and spent this wisely in my view by not spreading the recourses too thinly. Like virtually all productions it went over budget but not so that the final product has to be over priced."

This is not the first album issued by the label between EP and LP in length. Basil Coetzee's Sabenza vinyl only release, was a big success for the label and ran to only 35 minutes. Other labels have also moved to shorter programs, particularly with the resurgence of vinyl. But until now no one has tagged the format, according to the label.

"The plan with Jan Wouter's new release is to go to CD first and then follow up as vinyl. There are already  over 100 pre-orders, so I think vinyl will happen. The package will be attractively priced, but still with a full booklet in a digipak."

 "It sort of happened this way and I feel we are onto something here," said Lee-Thorp.