Lars Bartkuhn

As a young child Lars Bartkuhn started out writing his first piece of music with a synthesizer and sequencer, which his parents bought him upon realizing their son’s obsession with music. Playing guitar as a teenager Lars fell deeply in love with the music of Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett and John Coltrane and started composing and producing music right away. His personal style draws inspiration from Jazz, Rock, Alternative, Brazilian Sounds, Classical, Contemporary, Minimal and Dance music, while his focus is always on the storytelling aspect of things. His NEEDS label which he founded with his brother Marek and DJ Yannick rapidly became a synonym for soulful high quality music and while labeled a ‘House’ music imprint it was Lars’ input that lead the trio to explore into alternative, and at the time unorthodox, musical influences that allowed for original textures and arrangements to be included into their productions. Countless remix commissions followed and their sound travelled worldwide. To date Lars has produced five solo albums on labels like Sonar Kollektiv, Needs, Ropeadope and Inpartmaint, all of which demonstrate a never ending creative flow of ideas and artistic diversity, complexity and passion. His latest album release is a collaboration with his close friend Kabuki. It's called THE FIRST MINUTE OF A NEW DAY (Séance Centre) is a highly unique journey of ambient music with resemblances of Krautrock, ECM and World Music.