Tales of the Nexialist Organization

Sometimes I write about music and how it influences society – and vice versa. Here is a letter to experimental percussion pioneer and master Z'EV that was intended as an invited contribution to a workshop on the topic of "doom and gloom". The letter was never published, however, until now. From 2005 to 2017, when he passed, I had the honor and opportunity of learning from him and playing and recording music with him. This letter was part of our conversation at the time. Resilient Ears for Doom - Extreme Music and Coping Capacity Dear z'ev, there was something I was wondering about and given your knowledge on music I hope we can discuss the matter somehow. It actually relates to two of my main interests - disaster and music. The thing that I am wondering about is whether music can contribute to the capacity of people to cope with stressful situations or even disaster. I'll try to be more specific: in developed countries, there are forms of emergency management and ...

Halforganic Theory is a special compilation with Fragment King recordings from the 1997-2002 era. All tracks were created during FK's electronic sequence-and-programming-driven era. All selections written and produced by Fragment King / Mark Kammerbauer 1997-2002. This digital album includes all 24 tracks of the original 2001 Halforganic CD releases in chronological order according to their original production sessions. Forensium was a compilation CD featuring early FK tracks, released in the "Halforganic Series" as nex001 in early 2001. The Cellmaker's Sinister Jazz was an album featuring further uptempo and midtempo tracks released in the same series as nex002 later in 2001. The Prisoner was also released on the nex010 vinyl 12" Simple Things Are Often Monstrous. Also included are unreleased tracks. Each of these sessions had unique production characteristics that also show how FK's work progressed during this era.   Tracklist: Total Now 07:15...

A mix of ambient stuff that I enjoy and I hope you enjoy it, too. With tracks by SunnO))), HALO, Iannis Xenakis, Jesu, NTT, Sophia, Torso, Techno Animal, Laibach, Brighter Death Now, Fragment King, John Zorn's Naked City, Autechre, Celtic Frost, Morton Feldman Fragment King · Gentleman Annihilator Mix  

Sometimes I write about music and how it influences architecture and the city – and vice versa. Here is a text about interrelations between music and cities from an urbanistic viewpoint, with Los Angeles and Slayer as examples.  Lost Angeles: Slayer's Hell Urbanism Author: Mark Kammerbauer Publication details: unpublished manuscript, 2024 1. Introduction: The city as mirage of counter-culture The music, lyrics and visuals created by bands can be indicative of the urban life their members experience. Their work can be seen as a form of dialogue between the music cultures they participate in and the urban spaces they inhabit. This dialogue establishes an interrelation between the musician's city of reality and the music's city of imagination. Perceived this way, music becomes a medium of alternative visions of the city or audible utopias and dystopias. The question this perception raises is: What kind of imaginary city do musicians envision and what does it tell us about the ...

Simple Things Are Often Monstrous by Fragment King

Halforganic Theory (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) von Fragment King

One photo, one song. Artwork by the Nexialist Organization. This has to be the most pure music I ever created. In 2002 I recorded completely abstract sounds and arranged them into 16 tracks, all of which are featured on the Torso release. I revisited the album this past weekend and found it extremely liberating. Perhaps you will agree. Perhaps not.   Generating Space von Torso

Live At SI by Fragment King

Halforganic von Uncreated

Halforganic by Uncreated

The Cellmaker's Sinister Jazz by Fragment King

Halforganic Theory (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) by Fragment King

Halforganic by Fragment King

Select video recordings of Nexialist Operations are available at a dedicated Vimeo page. Today, I'm featuring a video snippet of the BUNKER sessions, recorded in the highrise bunker in Munich erected during WWII and currently serving a peaceful purpose as the location of the Architekturgalerie München e.V. who kindly allowed me to perform and record a session there. Part of the recordings were used for RETREAT, the Fragment King "comeback album" released by Annihilvs. The album is also available at the Fragment King Bandcamp site.

This post simply sums up many of the Fragment King media sites and those featuring associated projects and Nexialist Operations: Fragment King at Bandcamp: https://fragmentking.bandcamp.com/ Fragment King compilations and collaborations at Bandcamp: https://nexialist.bandcamp.com/ Cooperation with Z'EV at Bandcamp: https://zevalexandravonbolznfragmentking.bandcamp.com/ Fragment King and Nexialist Operations at Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/ Alternative video channel at Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/nexialist/videos Fragment King entry at Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/artist/14856-Fragment-King

Around the turn of the Millennium, a call had been issued for submissions to a Godflesh Tribute project, likely on the Avalanche message board. Back in the early zeros the place to find information online on Godflesh and Justin K. Broadrick's other projects were either Godflesh.com or the Avalanche message board, named after JKB's own label, Avalanche Recordings, likely referring to Godflesh's "Avalanche Master Song".  Since the Godflesh inspiration became increasingly tangible in my recordings for Fragment King from 2002 onward, I took the chance to submit a cover version of "If I Could Only Be What You Want" that included vocals by Leech (a.k.a. Lee Bartow of NTT, Theologian and the Annihilvs label). The "Godflesh Tribute" compilation was released as a double CDR with printed cover in 2004.  By then the original Godflesh had disbanded, JKB's new project Jesu emerged, while my own recordings incorporated the inspiration that early ...

ANGEL POSITION FK25 Anniversary Edition by Fragment King Constellations is a recording of the ANGEL POSITION sessions and, as such a most classic "Failed Love Song". Specifically, it deals with someone I was romantically acquainted with between 2005 and 2007. Or at least so I believed. The lyrics reflect the bitter outcome of this aquaintance: Our constellations are the opposite of happiness but I guess it hurts you too nothing left to reclaim along the road you mean nothing to me ANGEL POSITION was released by MHz in 2014 and saw an anniversary re-release in 2022 with expanded artwork by Liis Roden. Liis Roden @Liisroden.com Angel Position / MHz @Bandcamp    

Above Us (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) von Fragment King "Rot" was recorded in Berlin sometime between 2008 and 2010 within the "Angel Position"-sessions. While the track wasn't part of the "Angel Position" album (mastered by maverick hardcore drum n bass and dubstep producer Bazooka, released on MHz in 2014 and re-released in a special edition in 2022 with graphics by Liis Roden), it was part of the "Here Music Dies" cassette release on Annihilvs, which was a mirror image of sorts of "Angel Position" by including alternate recordings from that session. "Rot" is inspired by the incredible Anime series "Bleach" and, in particular, by one of main character Ichigo Kurosaki's adversaries, the Arrancar by the (equally incredible) name of Barragan Luisenbarn, or バラガン・ルイゼンバーン in the Japanese original. His "battle cry", so to speak, is "ROT!" There you go.   Bazooka @Bandcamp Liis Roden @Liisroden...

The Cellmaker's Sinister Jazz von Fragment King Sometime in the 90s one of my architecture-co-students happened to work in a local record store. We would talk about music and literature more than about architecture. Eventually he suggested I pick up Flann O'Brien's "Third Policeman". Today I'm not quite sure how this came about, perhaps we were talking about David Lynch or renowned Irish authors, who knows. Ah, now I remember. The thing was that a house played a role in the novel, and in-between the walls of the house was an entire other "hidden" house. In the 2000s, when I recorded this track, the title became an inspiration. The track itself is a structure continuously unfolding in time in a manner similar to O'Brien's mysterious house unfolding in space in impossible ways.

Above Us (FK 25th Anniversary Edition) by Fragment King Within the Angel Position sessions, the track "Nullifier" first emerged as "Ultimate Nullifier". It is presented here in its "Minus"-Version, which means that the recording is stripped down to the drum patterns, bass guitar parts and vocals. A rough mix, so to speak. The electronics of the latter version are omitted. The title is, of course, a reference to the Ultimate Nullifier of Marvel's Fantastic Four comics – and more specifically, the classic first appearance of Galactus, courtesy of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. To paraphrase – "giving a match to a child who lives in a tinderbox."

Offal – Nachlese von Nexicon "Horselover Fat" is a reference to Philip K. Dick's "alternative self" in his novel VALIS – and it is a session track that I created with Lee Bartow (Annihilvs, Theologian, NTT) and Tim Spann (NTT, Abfall) in the early zeros in Upstate New York. Collected under the project name NEXICON, we recorded a number of jam sessions and released select tracks. We subsequently played "Horselover Fat" live at Tonic in New York City on 19 February 2003. For Bandcamp, I edited the live recording into a coherent segment including four originally separate session tracks. The project has an entirely utopian character to it, therefore the Science Fiction reference should be self-evident. Since I already featured the cover to VALIS in another post, I'm featuring the cover of another Dick classic, Man In The High Castle, in its German original I read as a teenager.