Lars Bartkuhn

A passionate music lover from earliest childhood Lars started out writing his first pieces of music with a synthesizer and sequencer, which his parents bought him when realising how obsessed their son was by music. Playing guitar as a teenager Lars deeply fell in love with the music of Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett and John Coltrane, but also with countless other styles beyond jazzmusic such as soul, funk, rock, brazilian sounds, classical music, experimental, minimal, etc... In the following years Lars travelled around as a session musician, playing in Jazz quartets, Funk crews, Brazil bands and Fusion combos - always searching for new vibes and styles in the world of music. In the late mid 90s Lars became fascinated with the deep and soulful side of House music. He realised he shared a common vibe with his older brother Marek Bartkuhn as well as DJ Yannick and together they formed Lamaya Productions and their production outfit/label NEEDS. Since then Needs has rapidly become a synonym for soulful high quality music with an openminded approach in all aspects that the fans keep on desiring until today. LARS BARTKUHN and his crew also gained worldwide recognition as remixers with works under their belt for Francois K, Jazztronik, Ennio Morricone, Ian Pooley, Atjazz, Russ Gabriel, Franck Roger, Playin' 4 The City and labels such as Palm Pictures, Compost, Infracom, Clairaudience, Wave and Groove Attack to name a few. On the DJ side Lars and his Needs crew were hosting their legendary ‚Needs (Not Wants)’ nights in their hometown. Many of LARS BARTKUHN’s productions have been played, charted and loved to death by DJ heavyweights around the globe - including PASSION DANCE ORCHESTRA’s seminal anthem "Worlds", often heralded as a true dancefloor Classic’. He released already three albums: „Dreamland“ and „Choreographies“, both ambitous projects that are based on the concepts he presented on the numerous Needs 12“s. In October 2008 Lars released „IMAGES&ANTHEMS BOOK I“ (Impartmaint Records) in Japan for the time being – a great album of unlimited stylistic freedom that travels between Indie, Electronica, ECM and Jazzfunk. He has produced singer/songwriter INGA LÜHNING’s album entitled „ENTFERNUNG“ (Herzog/Impartmaint), an interesting blend of popsongs, sophisticated electronics and jazzy, atmospherical arrangements. He has also finished another 12“ that will mark the return for NEEDS later this year. In spring 2008 „Dimensions“, a futuristic and epic fusion/dancefloor-anthem was released on Sonar Kollektiv and marked the beginning of the collobaration between the label and Lars. November 2008 will see his most ambitous project so far entitled „THE NEW CONTINENT“ (Sonar Kollektiv). The album took many years to finish and represents many different sides of the composer while maintaining a fluent and coherent storytelling concept. Some of it’s ingredients include Funk, Spiritual Jazz, Brazilian, classical music and minimal to name but a few, all connected by Lars’ genuine composing method that is based on a deep and rich sense for melody and harmony, repetitive patterns and long arrangements. Above all stands a colourful orchestration that combines melodic and funky basslines, heavy percussion, all kinds of guitars, piano, harmonica, synthesizers, voices that are added up to big polyphonic choirs and all kinds of orchestral textures from very sweet too darky and moody. The production of „THE NEW CONTINENT“ was a true tour de force by LARS BARTKUHN since he is the composer, performer and producer all in one person. He set up his five piece live ensemble consisting of some of Germany’s finest jazz and funk experts and is preparing a tour through Germany right now. I am a musician.