Interview on CBC Montreal with Duke Eatmon and Sabrina Marandola

CHRIS BIRKETT INTERVIEW CBC Montreal Aug 13th 2024

" A man suddenly bursts into anxiety. He then faints and experiences different feelings. Wind blows at the end and door closes. He feels relaxed then"
XQ Records
Armin Dadkhodaei - Guitar, Keyboard, Mix and Mastering.

Vertigo

Sepulchre

The Chaos Construct channels the spirit of classic prog rock with intricate rhythmic interplay, bold synth passages, and precision-driven drumming. With clear echoes of Rush, the track fuses technical musicianship with dynamic shifts and layered tension. It’s a cerebral, high-energy instrumental that moves with purpose — complex, calculated, and unmistakably powerful.

The Chaos Construct

Ta 25ième heure, l'heure à laquelle tu décides de vivre ta passion.Lorsque l'on fait une activité qu'on aime le temps est toujours trop court et jamais assez long.

Your 25th hour, the time at which you decide to live your passion. When doing an activity that we like, the time is always too short and never long enough.

Ta 25e heure

Tu l'imagines
Mais tu plies l'échine… toujours!

Cet espoir de bonheur
Te reviens à chaque heure… à chaque heure.

(Mais tu te dis…)
Souvent trop longues
Jamais trop courtes
Peu importe elles s'écoulent

Tu rêves de cet instant
Pour traverser ces moments… plus librement.
Toutes ces journées à labourer
Pour construire ce paradis… tant souhaité.

(Mais tu te dis…)
Souvent trop longues
Jamais trop courtes
Peu importe elles s'écoulent s’écoulent s’écouleeeeent

Jamais trop longues
Souvent trop courtes
L'important c'est que tu t'écoutes
Voilà l'instant
Ici le moment
C’est l’heure
De ta 25e heure

Solo

Celle qui t'appartient
La réalisation de ton destin
L'instant de bonheur
Ta passion à toutes heures… à toutes heures

(Mais tu te dis…)
Jamais trop longues
Souvent trop courtes
L’important c’est que tu y touches
Le temps présent
Le temps constant
Voilà l'instant
Ici le moment
C’est l’heure
De ta 25e heure


Ta 25ième heure

RIP (Rock In Progress)

Coming out of left field with this one, I've been listening to a lot of math rock and prog metal bands like Hella, King Gizzard, and Animals as Leaders, which is where I took a lot of inspiration from. Everything on the first three tracks besides one bass line is recorded by me, with that bass line being a midi bass. As much as I wanted to record tracks 4 and 5, they were just a little to out of my skill level to get clean recordings, but I wanted to put them out there regardless in case someone else can play them.

The Irregularity (MIDI Demo)

Firewall

We rage it hard in this show, in search of best prog rock of all time. Join DJ Benzen and DJ Greg as they spin tracks by some of the most quintessential artists in the genre, while trying to define exactly what the hell prog rock is anyway. This show is also setup for our next installment of this special, as the definitions and aspects of prog discussed in this set will be used as evidence in the Great Jazz Mountain Prog Rock Trial, coming up soon. So, get ready to boogie to some complicated, mathematical, epic, nerd rock. Here we go!

Jazz Mountain's Search for the True Prog Rock Gem

Court is in session! Listen in and be the jury, as you hear DJ Benzen and DJ Greg debate whether their songs qualify as true prog rock or not, in the Great Jazz Mountain Prog Rock Trail. It's an intense deliberation, and it totally rocks! Wearing wigs is strongly encouraged...

The Great Jazz Mountain Prog Rock Trial

Composer, arranger, performer, music director and teacher, I graduate of the 'Université de Montreal' , I have been passionate about everything that resembles music for more than 45 years.

I just try to make music i'd like to listen. No IA. 

Jazz Mountain is a free jazz, jam, and psychedelic rock podcast. Featuring 2 sets and an encore, just like a jam band show, we take you on a magical improv journey and rage!

Chris Birkett Bio 

Chris Birkett is a multi-talented, award winning producer, singer/songwriter, composer and sound engineer. His music collaborations with A-list international artists like Sinead O'Connor, Alison Moyet, Dexys Midnight Runners, Talking Heads, The Pogues, Bob Geldof, Quincy Jones, Mel Brooks and Steve Earle have sold over 100 million records and earned four Canadian Junos, a Grammy, a Polaris Music Prize and three international AMPEX Golden Reel Awards for excellence in the music business.
Chris is no stranger to Canadian music, having co-produced five award winning albums for the legendary Buffy Sainte-Marie, including her comeback album “Coincidence and Likely Sto-ries” (1992) and the Juno winning “Running for the Drum” (2009). He received a Canadian Screen Award for best sound on the 2022 feature biograph “Buffy Sainte Marie: Carry It On”.
His career began as a guitarist, playing in London clubs before touring with Memphis artists Rufus Thomas, Ann Peebles and King Floyd. At 23, Chris was performing with the pop group Love Affair, whose song "Everlasting Love" ruled the UK charts. The following year, he joined the band Omaha Sheriff who had just signed a major recording deal with Tony Visconti, man-ager of Good Earth Records and producer for David Bowie and the Moody Blues.
With Visconti as a mentor, Chris expanded his career to include producing, engineering and mixing many UK and international hits including Sinead O'Connor's #1 song “Nothing Com-pares 2 U”. His London studio was a beehive of activity that was rated #2 in the world on Bill-board's top studio charts.  At the same time, Chris' own single “Where Do We Go From Here?”(1992) was picked by Ed Bicknell (Dire Straits' manager) to play alongside U2, Peter Gabriel, Bob Marley, Tears for Fears and Queen on Polygram's “One Voice One Love” al-bum.
In 1993, Chris left the UK for France and built a recording studio inside his chateau near Bor-deaux. There he produced albums with the Buena Vista Social Club and other world-class musicians, including Etran Finatawa, whose debut album was nominated for a BBC Radio best world music award. In 2006, he moved his studio to Paris, where he released his second album, “Freedom” and received growing acclaim for his work with world musicians like Alger-ian sensation Ali Amran.
In 2012, Chris moved to Toronto and finished work on his third album "Be Creative" featuring performances from many talented Canadian artists including Glen Milchem (Blue Rodeo) and Rick Emmett (Triumph). Now a Canadian citizen, Chris' latest album credits include co-pro-ducer of Buffy Sainte-Marie's Polaris and Juno award winning album “Power in the Blood” (2016) and the recent Juno winner, “Medicine Songs” (2017), both for True North Records. In 2019 he released 11:11, his fourth album under the band name The Free Spirits. 

Chris is currently creating new recordings for a range of talented Canadian and European mu-sicians and mentoring and producing Inuit artists through the Hitzmaker's label. He's also im-mersed in his own upcoming albums and has been releasing singles that include “Precious Love” for his documentary filmmaker wife Joan Prowse, “2022” an upbeat refllection on 2 years of social isolation, “Icky Cottage Blues” a summertime sing-along song with his fun-lov-ing band The Happy Campers, and “Everyone Deserves a Home”, which earned a provincial community service award and a spot on Global News with Susan Hay.
www.chrisbirkett.ca

Jamie Penner is a Nanaimo, BC multi-instrumentalist and producer making melodic, guitar- and synth-forward instrumentals from his studio The Rock Quarry. Including his self-recorded debut Out of Curiosity (2020), he’s released 2 EPs and 6 albums that span rock, ambient, and cinematic styles, culminating in 2025’s genre-mixing Something a Little Different. With his new album Modern Retroism, Penner dives into retro-futurist electronica: warm analog-tinted pads, unhurried grooves, and hooky leads that feel both nostalgic and new. Think dreamy night-drive music with a craftsman’s attention to detail.

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