Hi, I'm Lars!
- and this is my old-school 'personal homepage'.
I’m a pensive Copenhagener, developing systems for the general public, composing and playing music, and being an optimistic technoprogressive in general.
Even though things may seem bleak when looking at the news - military conflicts, shrinking biodiversity and climate change - these are dragons we are taking on methodically, together.
New technology combined with an empathic and values-driven approach can bring us many things that resemble miracles. Cures for debilitating diseases, better working conditions, amazing entertainment, and exploration of the solar system in search of both resources and a key to better understanding our place in the universe.
I'm in the process of migrating a lot of content from the old pages to here, so there's less than there used to be at the moment. All in due time.
Software Development
“Without requirements or design, programming is the art of adding bugs to an empty text file."
- Louis Srygley
After minoring in Computer Science from the University of Copenhagen, I have worked with software development ever since, primarily object-oriented development of both desktop and web applications.
I am very much
a fan of general systems engineering principles applied to software development - trade studies, requirements design, reviews and so on in order to ensure a better product. You can find me on Github and on
LinkedIn.
Music
"The world's most famous and popular language is music."
- Psy
Born and based in Copenhagen, Denmark, I have composed music and sound design for bands, musicals, video games and more since the early 1990s. I have played music since the age of 9, mostly piano, but also percussion and sung backing vocals. I have been in several bands and music projects, from Latin American inspired pop through prog metal and ambient electronica to dubstep. I have written music for three musicals together with my brother, and a partial score for an amateur film.
Expanding piano to synthesizers was primarily due to growing up listening to French composer and musician Jean Michel Jarre through introduction by my brother and my
cousin. Later, I was exposed to jazz fusion, techno, triphop and death metal in my teens. Newer styles like dubstep and electroswing continue to inspire and awaken my curiosity. Inspirational sources are many and
varied, but I grew up listening to artists such as Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Andreas Vollenweider, Peter Gabriel and many of the pioneers to merge classical Western orchestral tradition with electronics and the term we used to call
'world music'. Since then, many artists have been added to the list of people whose skills I admire.
The nature of the internet fortunately allows us all to discover works that would have been hard to access in earlier
times. Composers such as Jocelyn Pook, Floex and Shpongle add fresh dimensions to the musical palette.
Published works
Totemtanz: In Trödelmarkt der Träume
Full album.
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In Trödelmarkt der Träume |
Listen and buy it at iTunes Music Store
Totemtanz: Totemtanz
Full album.
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Totemtanz |
Listen and buy it at iTunes Music Store
Take Us To Your Leader: The Return of Common Sense
Full album, me as then-standin (later full member).
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The Return of Common Sense |
Listen and buy it at iTunes Music Store
Obeah: Copenhagen Massive
Minor guest appearance here, playing a melodica synth patch.
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Copenhagen Massive EP |
Listen and buy it at iTunes Music Store
Bass Snatchers: Ude Af Drift
I played the eerie grand piano, Rhodes, synth.
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Who Shot Jacques Laverne? Volume 1 |
Listen and buy it at iTunes Music Store
Bass Snatchers: Ude Af Drift (Edit)
Basically a short edit of the 'album' version.
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Who Shot Jacques Laverne? Sampler |
Bass Snatchers: Een Gang Til
I played organ, handclaps, ride cymbal and muttered voices near the end. I also wrote the guitar part (!)
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Folklore & Fairytale EP |
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Who Shot Jacques Laverne? Volume 2 |
Listen and buy at iTunes Music Store
Context : Midnight Stroll
I played the Fender Rhodes solo, credited as Electric Eel (I had a number of Eel aliases back then). I wish the track had been edited more, but I guess that's showbusiness :-)
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Nobody Beats The Beats |
Rolando Posen: Lo Que Vendra
I played the cheesy 80's FM-keyboard on this remix of Tangoorkestret's cover of Astor Piazzolla's tune by the same name. I remember being ecstatic about getting something out on April.
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All That Jazz - the remix project |
Bands I play in
Totemtanz (2020-)
(me: keyboards; Jerk Elmen: winds, percussion; Kristoffer Brinch Kjeldby: electric bass; Carsten Müller Nielsen: drums, vocals)
Bands I have played in
Take Us To Your Leader (2016-2018)
(me: keyboards, vocals; Simon Lambrecht Finne: guitars, vocals; Sussi Alsing Nielsen: guitars,vocals; Lee: percussion, vocals; John Holm Jacobsen: bass, vocals; Carsten Müller Nielsen: drums, vocals)
Lydstat (2007-2010)
(me: vocals, keyboards, programming; Rune Edberg: lyrics, vocals, keyboards, programming)
Rikke Rønne Jazz Quartet/Trio (2004-2006, 2010)
(me : piano; Rikke Rønne: vocals; Stig Andreasen: bass, Henrik Lund: drums)
Finklemeyer (2000-2003)
The third instalment in Scott's prog series. Never got a job, but came up with some interesting ideas.
Forward Motion (1999)
(me : keyboards, cymbals; Scott Voloshin: drums, bass and vocals; Søren Reinholdt : guitars, e-bow) More of a lo-fi one-man project with guests, really. After the demise of Beat Frequency, Scott wrote some songs for a three-song demo titled "The Healing Process". The cover was an 8 yr old kid's drawing of his nurse mother wielding a bloody knife in one hand and a bottle of poison in the other. I played keyboards and a cymbal roll on one track for the demo, called "Just Another War", inspired by the movie Saving Private Ryan. 'Pads, anyone?' ;-)
The Bass Snatchers (1997-2004?)
Various members over time:
- 2000F/Frederiqué (percussion, talkbox)
- Dr. Disk (turntables)
- Hunulven Eva (electric and acoustic bass)
- Tim Driver (human beat-box, toasting)
- Ålekongen (keyboards)
- Rasmus
- Zeuthen (electric bass)
- Strøm (electric guitar)
- The Shermann (mixer, talkbox, TB-303)
- Albert Raft (saxophone)
- Mr. Steve Austin (turntables)
- Martin Winthereik (guitars)
- Jakob Lægdsmand (saxophones)
- Niclas Campagnol (drums)
- Laura Toxværd (tenor saxophone)
Bass Snatchers began in 1997 as the second spinoff from Rytmisk Center, and a totally different one it was. Jazz, dubstep, breakcore, lounge-latin...a lovely mess and mashup of contemporary styles. Probably my biggest eye-opener to date.
Beat Frequency (1997-1999)
Original Lineup: drums (Henrik Lund), bass (Martin Larsen), guitar (Søren Reinholdt), keyboards (me), saxophones (Jakob Lægdsmand), vocals (Scott Voloshin).
A spinoff from Rytmisk Center, I joined these guys for a whole lot of jamming and improvisation (Scott must have over 200 tapes with jams). I guess the main influential roots were King Crimson and their 70's and 80's contemporaries. Long compositions, changing meters, lots of aural spectacle etc. We managed to make one somewhat decent but noisy demo CD, titled 'Clean Enough', before we went into classic band problems: ambition differences, technical difficulties, members leaving or getting kicked out and replaced etc.
The demo CD received quite a good review in LineOut, pointing out that we were skilled musicians, but ought to be more audience-friendly... I guess today I agree, but back then I couldn't see it.
I guess the only piece where you hear a lot of me is 'Mobile Phones' - the Fender Rhodes in the improvised intro and ending and the weird distorted synth/sax polyrhythmic duet in the middle. Scott deliberately mixed me very low in the rest of the tracks.
We did get a few gigs, Eigen's Ballroom, Studenterhuset and even Rust at one point.
Nexus 4 (1995-1996)
Lineup: Drums (me), guitar (Lars Kjeldsen), guitar (Mathias Lægdsmand), saxophones (Jakob Lægdsmand)
The obligatory school band, although far from traditional in tone language or instrumentation (no designated bass instrument). The cool thing was that we respected each others taste and let everyone make their compositions without compromise. My first fully arranged composition, "Marshlights", was written for this band. It has still never been performed publicly or recorded... and maybe it's best that way :-)
Splash Percussion II (1994)
Lineup: Me, forgotten drummer, bass player, percussionist and guitar player
I have totally forgotten everything about this band, except for the fact that we were a mostly-percussion band and played some Metallica songs....I played steel drums, marimba, keyboards and various percussion instruments.
I currently play in the awesome quartet Totemtanz, and we have an album out!