Posts

1999: A LOOK BACK

Image
1999 ... 25 years ago! It's hard for me to fathom. In that year, FK recorded plenty of tracks using an AKAI S2000 sampler. Most of them are included in the "Halforganic Theory" compilation. Astronaut imagery designed by Liis Roden. Halforganic Theory (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) von Fragment King Halforganic Theory (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) von Fragment King Halforganic Theory (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) von Fragment King Halforganic Theory (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) von Fragment King Halforganic Theory (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) von Fragment King Halforganic Theory (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) von Fragment King Halforganic Theory (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) von Fragment King Halforganic Theory (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) von Fragment King Halforganic Theory (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) von Fragment King

LIVE AT A2 20TH ANNIVERSARY

Image
It seems completely nonsensical, but it's the 20th anniversary of Fragment King Live At A2 ..." Recorded live on location at A2, Munich, 2004. Preceded by a lecture by Architect Peter Haimerl during an event curated by Elisabeth Hartung, the set utilized sounds recorded during a Nexialist Operation in the Mimesis artist studio designed and built by Peter Haimerl. Mastered by Mark Kammerbauer at White Furnace Lodge."   Live At A2 von Fragment King

DOUBLE REVIEW @VITALWEEKLY

Vital Weekly presented a double review in their Episode no. 1356 and I like it. Thanks so much! Podcast link to follow right after the review. FRAGMENT KING - ANGEL POSITION (CD by Nexialist) FRAGMENT KING - RETREAT (cassette by Annihilvs) "In 2014 there was the MHz label run by Maurizio and Boris from Klangstabil, and one of the final releases was "Angel Position" by Fragment King. Hearing this album now, there are two questions that come to mind: 1) Isn't this too harsh to be on MHz, knowing Maurizio and Boris a bit? The answer is no. Because Klangstabil can do pure noise and the song-structured stuff they've become 'famous' with. As with Klangstabil, it's about crossing borders, incorporating different styles, and getting something out that shouldn't stay locked inside.     Fragment King is Mark Kammerbauer, and this is his main project regarding music. He did things in the past with Leech from Navicon Torture Technologies and a colla

REVIEW: RETREAT @SIDE-LINE

Image
Review time again! Side-Line Reviews listened to RETREAT by Fragment King, released as a cassette and digital package by Annihilvs Power Electronix . Here is what they say: Fragment King – Retreat (Album – Annihilvs Power Electronix ) Genre/Influences: Industrial, Experimental. Format: Digital, Cassette. Background/Info: Mark Kammerbauer released this new opus last year. “Retreat” features seven songs plus one remix. Content: “Retreat” gets us back to the early days of Industrial/Experimental music. Next to the 80s influences the work also features very personal input; kind of inhibited, intimate atmosphere. The work has been composed by guitar playing manipulated into Industrial sound effects with menacing sound atmospheres on top. Vocal parts accentuate a cellar-like sensation. The last song is a remix by Snowbeasts which sounds pretty different, exploring Electro-Minimalism. + + + : This album evokes to me good-old souvenirs. I got the feeling of awakening in the 80s when

REVIEW: ANGEL POSITION @SIDE-LINE

Image
Review time! Side-Line Reviews listened to the Fragment King 25th Anniversary Special Edition CD of ANGEL POSITION and here is what they say: Fragment King – Angel Position (Album – Nexialist) Genre/Influences: Industrial, Experimental. Format: Digital, CD. Background/Info: This work is a re-release of the album from 2014 and which is meant to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Fragment King. The project driven by Mark Kammerbauer has released multiple works during the past years. Content: The work features the original songs of the album. Kammerbauer creates a true bombast by mixing guitar playing and effects together with Industrial noises. The work has something chaotic and yet structured. It remains a bit to the bombast of The Swans and the cellar atmosphere of Sleep Chamber. The last song is a remix by Bazooka. + + + : Fragment King became an expert in the creation of overwhelming, bombastic, sound atmospheres. The way he manipulates guitar sounds into industrial noises

Remembering Z'EV

Image
Any day is a good day to remember Z'EV, percussionist, poet, artist. He was born as Stephan Joel Weisser and passed away in 2017. He continues to be a formative and seminal sound artist of Industrial Culture. Z'EV is widely recognized for his experimental percussion performances and recordings. His CDs were released on labels such as Cold Spring, Soleilmoon, Tzadik or Subterranean. He avidly worked together with numerous artists, performing and recording across the globe. "The foundation of my work, regardless of genre, is process." (www.rhythmajik.com) Z'EV and I first met in 2005 at a festival in Prague. After our respective gigs we spent the evening sitting next to each other and talking. In 2008 we met again in Berlin. After his festival show he announced that he, Marcelo Aguire and I would perform together. And so it happened. The three of us together with vocalist Alexandra von Bolz'n played at Gallery Wallywoods. We continued to work together afterwards

RETREAT Release Anniversary

Image
RETREAT by Fragment King was released one year ago by ANNIHILVS POWER ELECTRONIX! "All in tense minimalism, FRAGMENT KING alias Mark Kammerbauer floods space with guitar notes crawling on porous surfaces, impregnated with industrial dampness. RETREAT is not without evoking the universe of Godflesh in emaciated mode, fluttering on heaps of pointillist notes supported by spectral rhythms with a mechanical consistency. FRAGMENT KING elaborates an underground world of abstract hallucinations, bent under the weight of diffuse shadows and soft lacerations. The stridency stretches out to become suffering songs, emerging from drifting worlds. The vocals treated appear sporadically, linking us to a life in tatters seeking to flee a permanent darkness. Very highly recommended." Silence and Sound RETREAT by FRAGMENT KING

FRAGMENT KING 25TH ANNIVERSARY

Image
On the occasion of the the 25th anniversary of Fragment King, Nexialist is releasing three special compilations spanning recordings created and released between 1997 and 2014. In 1997, Fragment King recorded the "Demo That Exploded" and the adventure in speculative audible environments began. Above Us (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) features recordings written and produced during 2007 and 2010 within the Angel Position sessions in Weimar and Berlin. Furnace Lodge (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) includes tracks created during 2002 and 2007 predominantly within the Pathomechanical, Anatomic Music and Grey Album sessions in Ridgewood/USA, Weimar/Germany and Berlin/Germany. These three sessions strongly characterize the material produced in their context, by including guitar/ bass guitar/ vocals and effect treatment, the "digiscrub"-method of digitally deconstructing session material, and the coherent "studio"-approach to the various audio recording formats and

THE NEW NEXIALIST TRI-HEAD LOGO

Image
The original Nexialist “Tri-Head” logo was developed in 2000. Its basis is the “Helvetica Man” symbol that was commissioned by the US Department of Transportation and produced by AIGA, the American Institute of Graphic Arts. It is oriented on previous works, such as the graphic design for the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. “Helvetica Man” is part of the original 1974 series of pictograms or symbols intended to communicate facilities and functions to the public. The symbols are copyright free and intended for public use. This was part of the motivation behind creating a logo for Nexialist – it was intended to be “un-copyrightable” and hence, universal. In difference to the original “Helvetica Man” the “Tri-Head” is broader in order to accommodate three heads, with one additional head to both sides of the original, central head. The three heads were intended to represent the three core interests of Nexialist: architecture, music, text. In 2022 the “Tri-Head” was re-imagined for the 25th anni

FK Live At Sick And Twisted

Image
At Club Sick And Twisted in London, Alex Boniwell hosted the world's finest in breakcore and associated forms of ... if it needs a name, let's call it "critical electronica"! I had the honor to play a Fragment King live set there in 2005 and the recording is now available on Alex's "Live At Sick And Twisted" bandcamp page. There is also a Hyperdriver set and many more live sets by folks who were kicking loudly at the walls of confinement of contemporary music – both serious and fun – at the time. Plus, coincidentally, this was released on my birthday. Also featured: the original event flyer and a live pic. Enjoy, folks! Fragment King Live at Sick and Twisted 11/3/05 by Fragment King