NXO25 – Origins of Fragment King

While predating the founding of the Nexialist Organization, the Xenakis Emulator encapsulates what the intention behind its founding was ...

 ... the Nexialist Organization was conceived as a transdisciplinary platform connecting architecture, music, and visual design through shared creative methods and theoretical inquiry. 

And Fragment King was essential to that approach. Fragment King is the musical persona of Mark Kammerbauer — a synthesis of human and mechanical sound, lyrical defiance, and conceptual critique developed through decades of evolving production and performance.
Fragment King is a fictitious persona created by Mark Kammerbauer for music production and live performance. FK’s work can be understood through three interwoven aspects: roots, methods, and aims.
The roots trace back to the 1980s, influenced by early hip-hop, metal, and industrial pioneers such as Public Enemy, Big Black, and Godflesh. Their hybrid sound — a fusion of electronic and conventional instruments — reflected both the political dimension of noise and the cultural anxiety surrounding technology’s dehumanizing impact. Icons such as the Terminator, Darth Vader, and H. R. Giger’s Alien embodied these fears in visual form.
Early methods centered on emerging computer technologies for sound production, combined with an interest in the tectonic properties of composition — assembling rhythmic patterns and sequences through a constructive, collage-like process. Live performance introduced further transformations of sound, integrating conventional instruments and emphasizing the human element within technological production.
This balance between the human and the mechanical gave rise to a lyrical aim — confronting fear with the power of sound: when love is lost, when friends turn into foes, when society rejects you, a display of power becomes necessary. FK’s work channels this impulse: to this point and no further. The resulting sound — situated between primitive and complex, instinct and discourse, guitars and computers — conveys both destruction and renewal.

 

FRAGMENT KING: The Demo That Exploded (1997)
The first official Fragment King production, The Demo That Exploded established the project’s fusion of guitar aesthetics, digital rhythm, and industrial density — setting the foundation for all later recording work.
Fragment King officially took form with The Demo That Exploded, recorded and released in 1997 as a cassette (edition of 25) and CD-R (edition of 15) — then a new and exclusive medium. The recordings were circulated among friends and labels, and several tracks were performed live at FK’s debut performances.
The demo gained underground attention when copies were distributed in the southern German electronic and industrtial music scene. Comments like “This guy has to do film music” circulated widely. Collaborations and friendships grew from this period, particularly with Klangstabil.
In Munich, however, the reception was cooler: “I have no time for this.” At the time, Acid Jazz dominated the local sound, and plans for a compilation LP by the Uzi Quattro and Electric Sheep collectives were abandoned. The demo was followed by the release of Cities and Seasons on Deiker Records.Fragment King sought to combine the rawness of guitar-based music with digital beats, using the soundcard/MIDI environment as an instrument. Reference points included 1980s beatbox-driven rock and metal such as Big Black, Godflesh, and the 1990s wave of British electronics led by Aphex Twin, Autechre, and the No U-Turn label.

 

FRAGMENT KING: Grey Album (2005)
An evolution of Fragment King’s hybrid sound, Grey Album fused treated bass, digital rhythm, and voice into a dense, cinematic soundscape that defined the project’s mature phase.
Grey Album was recorded in 2005 using digital beats, processed bass guitar, and heavily treated vocals. Released by Invasion Wreck Chords and now sold out, the album captures Fragment King at full intensity after emerging from purely electronic origins.
The record’s core concept remained the fusion of guitar texture with electronic rhythm — inspired by Big Black and Godflesh, but also by the cinematic scope of Source Direct and Autechre. The lyrics, personal and abstract, were processed into layered vocal atmospheres that merge with the instrumentals, forming a triptych of beats, chords, and voice.
The album artwork, featuring photography by Mark Kammerbauer, underscores its aesthetic unity. Grey Album was widely praised for its sonic depth and conceptual coherence.

Top: FK live Openair/New York 2001; bottom: FK live Kino Aero/Prague 2005

This is a special NXO25 – 25th Anniversary of the Nexialist Organization post.