LVL (musician)

Last updated

LVL
Lvl logo.svg
Background information
Also known asLevel (formerly)
Origin New York City, New York
Genres Trance, industrial metal, Christian metal, drum and bass
Years active1996–2017
LabelsFlaming Fish, FiXT
MembersDan Levler

LVL (stylized as lvl) is both the solo music project and personal moniker for New York City musician Dan Albert. Formerly called Level, he changed his stage name to avoid confusion with others with the same name. His musical output ranges from fast-paced industrial metal to mellow electronica. Albert is the younger brother of musician Klayton. [1]

Contents

History

Early years

Dan Levler first appeared in the late 1980s as a member of Immortal, a New York thrash metal band fronted by Klayton. Immortal broke up and Klayton went on to found Circle of Dust, an industrial metal band that gained a strong cult following throughout the 1990s. In 1995 Albert performed as part of Argyle Park, another of Klayton's bands, for their first and only live show. [1] Levler appeared on the Circle of Dust album Disengage in 1998 with two remixes credited to his name. [2]

Flaming Fish Music years, 1997–2004

In 1997 Albert signed to Flaming Fish Music and released his first song on a compilation, followed two years later by the debut full length album Devil's Advocate, [3] which was composed of songs Levler had written from 1992 to 1996. [4] The album has been described as mixing drum'n'bass, trance, and industrial metal. [5] Only 1,000 copies of the album were pressed and it is now out of print. There were plans to send purchasers of Devil's Advocate a limited edition EP consisting of remixes and outtakes, [2] [4] but this fell through and only one remix of the song "She:Backslide", done by Klayton, ever surfaced.

While releasing Devil's Advocate, Albert also took part in the resurrection of Argyle Park, called AP2. Level was the primary songwriter on the reformed band's only album, [4] Suspension of Disbelief , which was released in 2000. Two years later, Level worked on the fourth Criss Angel album, the soundtrack to Mindfreak, remixing material from the preceding Criss Angel Trilogy that had been written by Klayton while also contributing four of his own compositions. [1]

Level's second solo album, Denial, was released by Flaming Fish in 2003 [3] and almost entirely lacked the driving guitars of the debut album, featuring instead lush, moody synths and electronics; "the new album is mellow, although the tempos are up". Buka of Argyle Park contributed lyrics and vocals to the song "What Free Is". [1] Denial was long delayed in being released, with six of the ten songs eventually being put online as mp3s to sate fans before the full album finally went on sale. Denial is also now out of print.

In 2004, Levler produced and performed programming on fellow New York artist Breather's Slowly Sinking EP for Flaming Fish Music. He also announced and took pre-orders for a retrospective release called Re:issue that would include both remasters and re-recordings of a selection of songs from Devil's Advocate and Denial, the Klayton remix of "She:Backslide", and some new material.

FiXT Music, 2005–present

Flaming Fish Music settled into dormancy and little was heard of lvl until 2006 when he was signed to Klayton's new label, FiXT Music. This is when Albert officially changed the name of his band from Level to lvl. He explained his absence since 2003's Denial and announced that he was working on new material in addition to the Re:issue project. [6] However, apart from a handful of new demos, only one minor release has since been issued, that being a remix single of the song "Home" from the Denial album. [7] Various financial and hardware problems, including a hard drive failure that deleted an album's worth of songs, have prevented lvl from moving forward with his new album work and Re:Issue seems to have been indefinitely delayed.

FiXT announced on August 21, 2017 that Devil's Advocate and Denial will be remastered and re-released, with several bonus tracks. [8] [ non-primary source needed ]

Levler has since left music behind and entered the world of labor unions and serves as president of New York State's largest independent labor union, Suffolk County Association of Municipal Employees. [9]

Discography

Compilation appearances

Remixes contributed

Other appearances

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celldweller</span> American electronic rock project by Klayton

Celldweller is an American electronic rock project by multi-musician Klayton. Celldweller songs have been featured in many films, movie trailers, television shows and video games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circle of Dust</span> American industrial rock band

Circle of Dust is an industrial music project from New York City created by Klayton, who later became known as Celldweller. The project was active from 1988 to 1998 and then re-started in 2015 after Klayton gained back ownership of his old albums. The project has released five studio albums: Circle of Dust (1992), Brainchild (1994), a re-recording of Circle of Dust (1995), Disengage (1998), and Machines of Our Disgrace (2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klayton</span> American musician

Klayton Albert is an American multi-instrumentalist from New York City who currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Klayton has led several bands and has performed under a variety of stage names since the early 1990s. His current projects are Celldweller, Scandroid and FreqGen.

<i>Celldweller</i> (album) 2003 album by Celldweller

Celldweller is the first studio album by the American electronic rock project Celldweller, released in 2003. The album spent one week on the Billboard Top Internet Albums chart, at number 17, and the song "I Believe You" reached number 11 on the R&R Alternative Specialty Show chart. Celldweller was awarded Album of the Year at the Just Plain Folks Music Awards. Guest appearances include Jarrod Montague of Taproot.

<i>Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head Vol. 01</i> 2008 studio album by Celldweller

Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head: Volume 01 is an instrumental-based studio album by the American electronic rock project, Celldweller. It is the first album in the SVH series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebastian Komor</span> Musical artist

Sebastian R. Komor is a Polish-born, Norwegian-raised electronic musician, best known for his collaborative work in Icon of Coil and Zombie Girl. A prolific artist, Komor has also released electronic music under a variety of solo projects and aliases since the late 1990s.

<i>Wish Upon a Blackstar</i>

Wish Upon a Blackstar is the second vocal studio album from American electronic rock project, Celldweller. While the album had been a work in progress since 2004, finalized songs from the album were not released until mid-2009. The full album was released on June 12, 2012. Grant Mohrman, producer of the debut Celldweller album, returned to co-produce the album with Klayton.

<i>Brainchild</i> (Circle of Dust album) 1994 studio album by Circle of Dust

Brainchild is the second studio album by the industrial metal band Circle of Dust, released in 1994 through R.E.X. Music and re-released as a remaster in 2016 through FiXT Music.

This is the discography of Celldweller, an American electronic rock project created by multi-instrumentalist artist Klayton.

Blue Stahli is an American electronic rock project by Bret Autrey. Blue Stahli has appeared in a number of movie trailers, shows and games.

FiXT is an American independent media company with several divisions including a record label, an online music store, and a film/TV/video game music licensing arm. FiXT was founded and is owned by Klayton, the sole member of the electronic rock project Celldweller.

<i>Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head Vol. 02</i> 2012 studio album by Celldweller

Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head: Volume 02 is the second production-based studio album by the American electronic rock artist, Celldweller. It is the second album in the Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head series.

<i>Cellout EP 01</i> 2011 EP by Celldweller

Cellout EP 01 is an extended play by the American electronic rock project, Celldweller. In late 2010 Klayton announced that he is planning to release studio recordings of the live versions of Celldweller songs played on the tour. The first piece of these releases, Cellout EP 01 was released on January 25, 2011 as iTunes exclusive. On May 20, he posted the EP version of Own Little World as a free download for reaching 75,000 likes on his Facebook page.

<i>The Complete Cellout</i> 2011 remix album by Celldweller

The Complete Cellout Vol. 1 is a remix album by the American electronic rock project Celldweller, which is essentially a compilation of old and new remixes by Klayton himself, Blue Stahli, Drivepilot, Josh Money and many others. It was released alongside Blue Stahli's Antisleep Vol. 02 on December 16, 2011. The instrumental version of the album, titled The Complete Cellout Vol. 01 Instrumentals was released on June 25, 2013.

<i>Space & Time</i> (EP) 2012 EP by Celldweller

Space & Time is an extended play by the American electronic rock project Celldweller. It is mostly a compilation of various songs from Wish Upon a Blackstar that have been remixed by Varien, KJ Sawka, Tim Ismag, and Klayton himself. It was released on December 11, 2012. Tim Ismag's remix of "Tough Guy" and KJ Sawka's remix of "Gift for You" were later released as free downloads.

<i>Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head Vol. 03</i> Album by Celldweller

Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head: Volume 03 is the third production-based and sixth overall studio album by the American electronic rock artist, Celldweller. It is the third album in the Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head series.

Scandroid is an electronic music project created by Klayton, which previously included Varien in 2013. The project released its debut single, "Salvation Code", on August 6, 2013. Scandroid can be described as encompassing the retro synth melodies of the 1980s while still adapting to modern production, thus creating a new retro sound.

Blue Stahli is a Los Angeles, CA-based electronic rock project that was created by multi-instrumentalist Bret Autrey. He has released 9 studio albums, 5 of which are instrumental based, and the other 4 are vocal based. He has also released 5 compilation albums, 25 singles and has released 7 music videos. Most singles have been released already onto albums, and there is currently 1 re-release.

<i>End of an Empire</i> 2015 studio album by Celldweller

End of an Empire is the third vocal studio album from electronic rock project Celldweller; it was released in "chapters", like most of Celldweller's previous works. The first of four chapters, Time, was released on September 16, 2014. The second, Love, was released on December 5, 2014. The third, Dreams, was released on March 13, 2015. The fourth and final chapter, Death, was released on July 17, 2015. The full album was released on November 6, 2015.

<i>Machines of Our Disgrace</i> 2016 studio album by Circle of Dust

Machines of Our Disgrace is the fourth album by American industrial metal project Circle of Dust, released on December 9, 2016, through Klayton's own label, FiXT Music. The album is the first new material released under Circle of Dust since Disengage.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Level interview". Automata magazine. Retrieved April 8, 2009.[ dead link ]
  2. 1 2 "Artist info at original Level site". Archived from the original on May 16, 2000. Retrieved April 7, 2009.
  3. 1 2 "Flaming Fish Music: History". Flaming Fish Music. Archived from the original on December 23, 2008. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 "Level interview". Ballistic Test 'Zine. February 1999. Retrieved April 7, 2009.
  5. ↑ Rockstroh, Joe (May 7, 1999). "Devil's Advocate review". The Phantom Tollbooth. Archived from the original on March 12, 2008. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
  6. ↑ "lvl Myspace blog". June 23, 2006. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
  7. ↑ Yücel, Ilker (January 22, 2008). "Home RE:mix review". ReGen. Retrieved May 6, 2009.[ dead link ]
  8. ↑ "FiXT To Re-release Rare Albums from Electronic Artist/Producer lvl - FiXT - Record Label". August 21, 2017. Archived from the original on August 24, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  9. ↑ i_beebe (November 22, 2020). "The 2020 Long Island Power 100: 51-100". City & State NY. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.