7th Level was a video games development company based in Dallas, Texas and founded in 1993.^[1] The company was most famous for developing the three Monty Python games (with the aid of Python member Eric Idle), G-Nome (1997) — a MechWarrior-style game, for publishing Helicops (1997) — an anime-inspired arcade-style aerial combat game, and for Tracer — a game of hacking distributed computer systems for cash using a virtual avatar in the design of Neuromancer, Shadowrun, or Snowcrash styled virtual worlds.

7th Level announced their intention to merge with Pulse Entertainment on November 17, 1997 to create P7 Solutions — an integrated solutions company.^[2] The distribution rights for the three Monty Python games were acquired by Panasonic Interactive Media the next day,^[3] ending 7th Level's involvement with game development and publishing. The announced merger between 7th Level and Pulse Entertainment was later canceled in April of the following year.^[4]

Before ceasing all game development, 7th Level had begun working on another title, named Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3. The partially completed game was sold to Ion Storm Inc. to finish development.

Titles[link]

References[link]

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Look up level, Level, leveled, levelled, or levels in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up microlevel in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Level or levels or levelling may refer to:

Places[link]

• Levél, Győr-Moson-Sopron, Hungary
• Level, Ohio, United States
• Level Valley
• Levels, West Virginia

Engineering-related[link]

• Floor, or storey, of a building or a mine
• A device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights, frequently used in surveying and construction:
  • Spirit level or bubble level
  • Sea level, the average height of the ocean's surface, reference of height systems
  • Water level, a device that finds the horizontal across larger distances
  • Laser level, illuminates a horizontal plane
  • Laser line level, displays an accurately illuminated line
  • Dumpy level, an optical instrument
  • Reed level, an Arabic invention
• Regrading, the process of raising and/or lowering the levels of land

Science and mathematics[link]

• Level, in applied statistics, the different treatments that are applied within a factor
• Classification levels, in Biological organisation, classrooms, churches, hospitals among others
• Level measurement, instrumentation techniques to measure height within a vessel
• Level set, a set where a function takes on a given constant value
• Level (algebra), the least number of squares that sum to Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): -1

in a field

• Energy levels, discrete amounts of energy that can be held by a quantum mechanical system or confined particle

Linguistics[link]

• ILR scale, descriptions of abilities to communicate in a language
• Morphological leveling, the generalization of an inflection across a paradigm or between words

Gaming[link]

• Level (video gaming), a stage of the game
• Level (role-playing games), a measurement of character development

Music[link]

• "Level" (The Raconteurs song), the fourth single from the their debut album Broken Boy Soldiers
• Gal Level, award-winning R&B girl duo from Windhoek, Namibia
• "Levels" (song), a song by Avicii
• "Levels" (Bilal song), a song by Bilal from his album Airtight's Revenge

People[link]

• Maurice Level (1875–1926), French writer
• Annick Level (born 1942), French fencer
• Léon Level (1910–1949), French professional road bicycle racer
• Tobias Levels (born 1986), German-Dutch footballer
• Calvin Levels (born 1954), American film actor

Other uses[link]

• Level (music), similar to but more general and basic than a chord
• LeveL, a games magazine in the Czech Republic, Romania and Turkey
• Level, a games magazine in Sweden
• Level, in a hierarchy, a collection of objects with the same rank
• Level, an indication of the number of previous posts to a forum thread at which a portion of text was written
• Level Vodka, a brand of vodka
• Level playing field, a concept about fairness where all play by the same set of rules

See also[link]

• A-Scale Sound Level
• Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
• Leveling seat
• Levellers
• Pevensey Levels
• Somerset Levels
• Terror Alert Level
• Derived no-effect level
• GCE Ordinary Level
• LEVEL

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Robert Pollard
Robert Pollard performing at SXSW 2006
Background information
Birth name	Robert Ellsworth Pollard, Jr.
Born	(1957-10-31) October 31, 1957 (age 54)
Origin	Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Genres	Rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, guitarist
Years active	1983–present
Labels	Matador Records Merge Records Fading Captain Series/Luna

Robert Pollard (born October 31, 1957^[1]) is an American rock musician and singer-songwriter who is the leader and creative force behind indie rock group Guided by Voices, who disbanded in 2004, only to reform in 2010. In addition to his work with Guided by Voices, he continues to have a prolific solo career.

With more than 1,500 songs registered to his name with BMI,^[2] Pollard is among the most prolific songwriters of his time. In 2006, Paste magazine listed him as the 78th greatest living songwriter.^[3] In 2007, he was nominated for the Shortlist Music Prize.^[4]

Early music and Guided By Voices[link]

Robert Pollard began his musical career in a heavy metal cover band in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio called Anacrusis. He had also been writing his own music non-stop and recording demo tapes in the basement of his home. Many of these recordings ended up in the boxed set known as Suitcase. He named the band, which involved dozens of revolving members, 'Guided By Voices'. Using a loan taken out from a local credit union, Guided By Voices produced a number of self-financed releases. Getting very little response at home, Guided By Voices released Propeller, which was to be their last album before Pollard resigned himself to a life as a 4th-Grade school teacher. The album eventually found its way to Scat Records, however, who signed the band to a recording contract.

"In the early days of Guided By Voices, when no one was listening, I was impatient," Pollard wrote in 2005. "I used to tire of people in the band very quickly. I had physical altercations with them. I even resorted to bullshit tactics, like telling the band I was quitting and we were breaking up, then forming again a month later with new members. I have learned to allow people to exist, grow, and find out who they are in the band, to give them all the time they need. As long as they are enthusiastic about the music, they can do whatever they want."^[5]

Guided By Voices became a legend in the independent rock scene, with both their recordings and live shows. Through the years, Guided By Voices would record with producers such as Ric Ocasek as well as appear on the legendary TV program Austin City Limits. In August 2004, GbV released Half Smiles of the Decomposed, which would be the last album by the band. In 2004, on New Year's Eve, Guided By Voices performed their last show at The Metro in Chicago. In 2010 they reunited for Matador's 21st birthday and for a reunion tour. After a year of reunion performances, they played their last show at the Hopscotch Music festival on September 9, 2011 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Guided By Voices will release its first album in 7 years on January 1, 2012. On January 3, the band appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman to promote the LP Let’s Go Eat The Factory.^[6]

Solo career[link]

Pollard began releasing solo records in 1996, alongside regular releases from Guided by Voices. These albums were typically recorded with a small group consisting of current or former Guided by Voices members, and they were generally considered to informally be part of the Guided by Voices canon, as that band would regularly perform selections from the solo releases in concert.

After the dissolution of Guided by Voices in 2004, Robert Pollard launched his official solo career with the release of From a Compound Eye in February 2006. Pollard's recent studio work has eschewed the live-band format, instead relying on the multi-instrumental talents of Todd Tobias, who produced several Guided by Voices albums. In 2006, Pollard resumed touring with a new band informally dubbed "The Ascended Masters", which featured Tommy Keene on lead guitar and keyboards, Dave Phillips on guitar, Jon Wurster on drums, and Jason Narducy on bass, but subsequent to the cancellation of some 2006 dates due to a leg injury, Pollard announced his retirement from touring.^[7] Despite this, Pollard performed two shows in support of his new albums. The first show was on November 31, 2007 in Chicago at The Metro. The second was on December 1, 2007 in Newport, Kentucky (across the Ohio River from Cincinnati) at the Southgate House. After releasing Superman Was a Rocker in January he announced that he would be leaving Merge Records to form Guided by Voices, Inc., his own record label that will produce his entire musical library.

In May 2008, Pollard announced his intention to form a new band, to be called "Boston Spaceships", who toured in the fall. The new band consists of Robert Pollard, Chris Slusarenko and John Moen, although the live band's line-up also included Tommy Keene on guitar and Jason Narducy on bass. The band's debut album, entitled "Brown Submarine" was released in September '08 and found Pollard re-visiting some older Suitcase songs (including "Go For The Exit" and "Soggy Beavers") as well as showcasing some brand new material.

In October 2008, it was announced that Guided by Voices' music would be used for a 3-D film musical based on the life of Cleopatra to be directed by Steven Soderbergh with script by former GBV member James Greer.^[8] Soderbergh and Greer will rewrite the lyrics of the songs.^[9]

Boston Spaceships[link]

Boston Spaceships is Pollard, John Moen (Decemberists, Perhapst), and Chris Slusarenko. The band's first album, Brown Submarine, was released on September 16, 2008, on Guided by Voices, Inc. The band toured fall 2008 in support of the album. A follow-up The Planets Are Blasted was released on February 17, 2009 with another album Zero to 99 released in October '09. Boston Spaceships released their fifth and final album Let It Beard on August 2, 2011.

Discography[link]

Solo studio albums:

• 1996 - Not in My Airforce (CD/LP)
• 1998 - Waved Out (CD/LP)
• 1999 - Kid Marine (CD/LP)
• 2003 - Motel of Fools (CD/LP)
• 2004 - Fiction Man (CD/LP)
• 2006 - From a Compound Eye (CD/2xLP)
• 2006 - Normal Happiness (CD/LP)
• 2007 - Standard Gargoyle Decisions (CD/LP)
• 2007 - Coast to Coast Carpet of Love (CD/LP)
• 2008 - Superman Was a Rocker (CD/LP)
• 2008 - Robert Pollard Is Off to Business (CD/LP)
• 2009 - The Crawling Distance (CD/LP)
• 2009 - Elephant Jokes (CD/LP)
• 2010 - We All Got Out Of The Army (CD/LP)
• 2010 - Moses on a Snail (CD/LP)
• 2011 - Space City Kicks (CD/LP)
• 2011 - Lord of the Birdcage (CD/LP)
• 2012 - Mouseman Cloud (CD/LP)

Other albums/EPs:

• 1999 - Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department (with Doug Gillard) (CD/LP)
• 2001 - Choreographed Man of War (billed as "Robert Pollard and the Soft Rock Renegades") (CD/LP)
• 2004 - Edison's Demos (LP)
• 2005 - Music for 'Bubble' (CD EP/7")
• 2005 - Zoom (It Happens All Over The World) (CD EP/7")
• 2005 - Relaxation of the Asshole (spoken word) (LP)
• 2006 - Moon (live CD included with original mail orders of Normal Happiness)
• 2007 - Meet the King: Asshole 2 (LP - Yuk Yuk Motherfucker - Unofficial release^[10])
• 2007 - Silverfish Trivia (CD/12" EP)
• 2008 - Weatherman and Skin Goddess (CD EP/12")

Side projects[link]

Fading Captain series[link]

During the mid-90s, in addition to GbV albums appearing annually, Pollard's prolificacy typically was vented onto innumerable singles, EPs, compilations and other side releases. However, once signed to a major label and constrained to the expectation of producing only a single album per 18 months, Pollard began the self-financed and released Fading Captain Series, a series of releases both under his own name, and a wide variety of pseudonyms. In addition to solo and archival releases, Pollard began collaborating with fellow musicians and friends by mail via a process dubbed "postal rock" - Pollard would receive completed musical backing tracks, and add his own lyrics and vocals. Albums under the Airport 5, Circus Devils, and Go Back Snowball monikers, among others were produced in this fashion.

In December 2006, Pollard announced that the Fading Captain Series was being concluded with the release of Crickets: Best of the Fading Captain Series 1999–2007, a 50-song "best of" collection spanning from 1999 through 2007.^[11]

The bands that used to release works in the Fading Captain Series now release records on other labels, such as The Takeovers' Bad Football coming out on Off Records and the Circus Devils Sgt. Disco coming out on Ipecac Records. In addition the Pollard albums Kid Marine, Motel of Fools and Fiction Man were all released in the Fading Captain Series although Pollard's other solo albums were not.

Acid Ranch: (archival recordings featuring Robert Pollard, Kevin Fennell and Mitch Mitchell)

• 2002 - Some Of The Magic Syrup Was Preserved (2xLP—Pollard's first double album)
• 2005 - As Forever: A Manifesto Of Fractured Imagination And Wreckless Living
• 2007 - The Great Houdini Wasn't So Great

Airport 5: (Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout)

• 2001 - Tower in the Fountain of Sparks
• 2002 - Life Starts Here

Circus Devils: (Robert Pollard, Todd Tobias and Tim Tobias)

• 2001 - Ringworm Interiors (CD/LP)
• 2002 - The Harold Pig Memorial (CD/LP)
• 2003 - Pinball Mars (CD/LP)
• 2005 - Five (CD/LP)
• 2007 - Sgt. Disco (CD/ LP)
• 2008 - Ataxia (CD/LP)
• 2009 - Gringo (CD/LP)
• 2010 - Mother Skinny (CD/LP)
• 2011 - Capsized! (CD/LP)

Go Back Snowball: (Robert Pollard and Mac McCaughan)

• 2002 - Calling Zero

Hazzard Hotrods: (Recording of informal 1990 performance by Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, and Kevin Fennell)

• 2000 - Big Trouble (re-released as Bigger Trouble 2005)

Howling Wolf Orchestra: (Pollard and various GbV members)

• 2000 - Speedtraps for the Bee Kingdom (12" EP/CD)

Keene Brothers: (Robert Pollard and Tommy Keene)

• 2006 - Blues and Boogie Shoes

Lexo and the Leapers: (Robert Pollard backed by The Tasties)

• 1999 - Ask Them (12" EP/CD)

Lifeguards (Robert Pollard and Doug Gillard)

• 2003 - Mist King Urth
• 2011 - Waving At The Astronauts

The Moping Swans (Robert Pollard, Greg Demos, Jim MacPherson and Tony Conley)

• 2005 - Lightninghead to Coffee Pot (12" EP/CD)

Nightwalker (pseudonym for archival GbV recordings)

• 1999 - In Shop We Build Electric Chairs: Professional Music by Nightwalker 1984–1993

Phantom Tollbooth:

• 2003 - Beard of Lightning

Psycho and the Birds: (Todd Tobias supplementing Pollard solo demos)

• 2006 - All That is Holy
• 2006 - Check Your Zoo (7" EP/CD)
• 2008 - We've Moved

The Takeovers: (Robert Pollard and Chris Slusarenko)

• 2006 - Turn to Red
• 2007 - Bad Football

Other record labels[link]

When Pollard announced that the Fading Captain Series was being concluded he also announced that he was starting up a new record label, then called Record Company Records^[11] but later re-titled as Prom is Coming,^[12] which is named after a song off his first solo album Not in My Airforce. The first (and thus far only) release on Prom is Coming was Silverfish Trivia.

In spring 2007, Pollard began a singles collection called the Happy Jack Rock Records Single Series in which one 7" record was released per month for 12 months starting June 22, 2007. All the records featured an A-side from Bob's dueling Merge releases that year (Standard Gargoyle Decisions & Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love) and a non-album B-side. 1,000 of each 7" was pressed.^[13]

Pollard's album Superman Was a Rocker was the first LP released on Happy Jack Rock Records (although the vinyl version of Circus Devils' "Sgt. Disco" had been released on the same label in 2007). Pollard continues to release 7" records on the label. June 2009 will see the first release from a new Happy Jack project Cosmos, a collaboration with Richard Davies titled Jar of Jam Ton of Bricks.

In 2008, Pollard announced the forming of yet another new label Guided By Voices Inc., named after his former band Guided by Voices. The first album release on Guided by Voices Inc. was Robert Pollard Is Off To Business, preceded by the 12" EP "Weatherman And Skin Goddess". Pollard's first two Boston Spaceships releases have been on Guided by Voices Inc.

EAT and Town of Mirrors[link]

In the fall of 2003 Pollard released EAT, a literary magazine consisting of original poems and collages by Pollard. As of December 2011 EAT is on its eighth issue.^[14] Pollard's collage art is featured on many Guided by Voices albums (notable exceptions being the two released on TVT Records).

Robert Pollard's collages were collected and published in Town of Mirrors: The Reassembled Imagery of Robert Pollard. Town of Mirrors features roughly 150 collages, 20 of which were created specifically for the book's release.

Side projects mentioned by Pollard that have not yet happened[link]

• Red Explosion (mentioned back in 1996 or so)
• Polymorph Orchestra (mentioned around the time of Isolation Drills)
• Frozen Sissy (allegedly a collaboration with his brother Jim Pollard)

Personal life[link]

Pollard was a fourth-grade school teacher for several years prior to the release of Bee Thousand in 1994. In James Greer's book Guided by Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll he states that Pollard's days teaching inspired songs such as "Gold Star For Robot Boy," "Teenage FBI" and "Non-Absorbing".

During high school Pollard was a tri-sport varsity athlete. His most notable athletic achievement was throwing the first no-hitter in the history of Wright State University. Pollard has stated that he and the other members of GBV beat Beastie Boys and Billy Corgan in a basketball game. He also stated that Kim Deal and Kelley Deal were cheering for them during the game and that Steve Drozd was riding on a bicycle during the game.^[1]

Much of the inspiration for Pollard's work has come from time spent hanging out with his high school friends from Dayton, a group he calls "The Monument Club".^[15]

He has two children (Erica and Bryan) with his ex-wife Kim and wrote a song about each, with "Your Name is Wild" being about his daughter and "My Son Cool" being about his son.^[16] He re-married in 2007 and still lives in Dayton, Ohio.^[17]

"I’ve never considered myself to be a runaway success at anything I’ve done, including parenthood," Pollard wrote in 2005. "But I’ve at least allowed my children to pursue their own interests without too much interference, and I think they both turned out pretty good."^[5]

Pollard cites The King of Comedy, Blue Velvet, Psycho, Husbands, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Big Night, Last Night at the Alamo, Goodfellas and O Lucky Man! as his ten favorite movies.^[18]

In April 2010, along with his brother Jimmy, Pollard was inducted into the Northridge High School Hall of Fame for excellence in football, baseball, and basketball.^[19]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Pollard

• Robert Pollard official website
• BMI entry for Robert Pollard
• Robert Pollard at the Internet Movie Database
• What I've Learned: An Essay by Robert Pollard
• Man With Emission: Are Robert Pollard and his spend-happy collector fans sowing ecological catastrophe? (Washington City Paper)
• Circus Devils - Gringo - Album Review at Citizen Dick