Level π from Cologne is the name of Uwe Cremer’s one-man band. The opportunity to publish a CD is due to Walter Nowicki from the Label Garden of Delights. About a year ago it was Walter that encouraged me to share my music with others.
1965
I am born in Düsseldorf.
1966
My family moves to the town of Iserlohn, the place where I grew up.
1974
Popmusic is awfully boring, except for “Autobahn” and “Kometenmelodie II” by the German electronic act Kraftwerk.
1978
My first acoustic guitar. With the aid of my sister’s boyfriend and the “Mundorgel” – a German folk-songbook – I learn to play the guitar. I stop going to guitar lessons at the local youth centre after the guitar instructor yelled at me, red with rage, because instead of tuning my guitar before class I had been busy talking to my mates. It was my second lesson.
1979
Music is definitely NOT boring anymore. Kraftwerk’s album “Menschmaschine” becomes the starting shot for my record collection.
1979-1983
Bit by bit I discover Eloy, Alan Parsons Project, Pink Floyd, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Scorpions, Jane, Hannes Wader, Jim Croce, Motörhead, Saxon…. Many songs are perfect for playing them on the guitar. I also enjoy German New Wave a lot.
1983
The German band Grobschnitt are playing at an open-air festival in Iserlohn and I see them live for the first time.
1984/85
I go for a better guitar. After years of Krautrock and Heavy Rock, I now increasingly listen to Gothic.
1985–1992
Apart from Pink Floyd I almost exclusively listen to gothic music. Sisters of Mercy and Fields of the Nephilim are the best. Unfortunately, final exams, my diploma thesis and job applications markedly decrease my musical output .
1988
In the Westfalia Stadion in Dortmund I see Pink Floyd for the first time live, and for two weeks I feel intoxicated by the concert. A friend of mine lends me her electric guitar (a Winner) for life. I play my first own songs on that guitar. It is also used on the album.
1989
I go to Grobschnitt’s “Last Party” on Castle Wilhelmstein, and to Pink Floyd in Cologne and Nijmegen.
1993–1995
A couple of friends of mine and I are allowed to use the equipment and the rehearsal room of another band. We rehearse our own songs in a basement vault in Mönchengladbach. I discover Camel and especially Krautrock anew.
1996
After another move our joint music project peters out. With the assistance of Cosmic Dreams at play – A guide to German progressive and electronic rock and other guides I start to buy myself through the Krautrock jungle and keep on discovering new rarities - and as old rarities are being re-released time and again, I still do. Inspired by the sound experiments of Krautrock, I get my old Commodore C64 out again and start programming a variety of sounds, which I can then call up via the keyboard. Unfortunately, the time gap between hitting the key and the computer playing the sound increases proportionally to the number of pre-programmed keys, which makes it hard to play music that way on the C64.
1997
A friend of mine lends me his keyboard and I start to learn the basics of playing it on my own.
1998
I am fed up with the Casio sounds and buy a second-hand YAMAHA PSR SQ 16. The 16 track sequencer opens up a range of possibilities hitherto unknown to me. I write a lot of songs on the YAMAHA (of which some are not even finished today).
1999
A friend of mine shows me how to turn a PC into a multi-channel sound recording station and little by little I’m getting started.
2000
I buy a Korg AX1000G in order to get the guitar sound straight. I record my first home-made album, “Absent friends”, under the pseudonym PSR.
2001-2004
I experiment with sounds and keep on writing further songs, which lead to a second home-made CD. Because I have to take my final exams, I have to take a break making music. After the exams, I treat myself to a new PC and bit by bit to more software. It takes a lot of time to get used to the programs, but it is also big fun. As I forget to make backups, a crash of my hard-drive leads to the loss of 70 minutes of my own improvised music.
2005
I make another home-made CD (“Being someone else”). The old Winner is being replaced by a Fender Stratocaster. I send my home-made CDs to a couple of record labels and Garden of Delights offers me the opportunity to release a CD.
2006
My first CD, “Entrance” is released under the name Level π on Garden of Delights.
2007
The first recordings for a new album are coming together. Unfortunately, I have to suspend recording for several months due to Tinnitus.
Only towards the end of the year have my ears recovered sufficiently to resume.
2008
Finally, in May, we're there: the music for my second album is finished. "Electronic Sheep" is my homage to the giants
of seventies electronic music: Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre,... As to why there's no homage to
Kraftwerk - no idea. But the odd listener or two have managed to hear Kraftwerk in there, anyway.
Once the album was mastered
by Steve Baltes, I started selling the disc, at first only as a CD on demand, dispatching them myself. In November, the
Tangerine Dream Fanzone Radio Show fan a special item (klick for listening)
πfan a special item on Level π. And finally, I made my first venture into the world of
film soundtracks, beginning with the music for a one-hour film about Costa Rica, a collection of impressions. The film is made
in 16mm by members of a Super 8/16mm film club.
2009
An exciting year!
In May, "Electronic Sheep" is released officially on the Museas sublabel, Dreaming, including the bonus track "Sonnenwind"
which I composed especially for the Musea release. In September a new sample cd called "MyOuterSpace Vol. 5" appears, with
my song "Pferdekopfnebel", and in November the new album by "Computerchemist" Dave Pearson, called "Aqual Measure" goes on
sale. The title track is a joint composition of Dave's and mine, and the guitars are all by Level π.
And while we're at it, in the summer I write a fun-track, "Honeymoon Question" for the wedding of Chris and Cathy Newman.
The song is aired at the wedding-special on the TDFZ radio show. The "Costa Rica Film" project is concluded and the film
shown successfully. This results in a commission for another soundtrack: "Drachenherz" (Dragonheart), a short film of about
10 minutes with dragons and swords. Which takes into the next year.
2010
As the year begins, I write the music for "Drachenherz". The idea is that the existing film would inspire my to write a song,
and the film would then be reshot, based on the song. The music is received very well by the filmmakers. Unfortunately, the
shooting has yet to start. First, as a practice run for "Drachenherz", so to speak, another short film, "Laub" (foliage,
fallen leaves) will be made, for which I am also writing the music. On top of that, I'm beginning to work on my third solo album.
