B4

Krautrock-Noise-East Block Psychedelic

The group B4 arose inadvertantly in 1998 at the Turnov Festival, when a missing band had to be replaced. Since then, it has featured an ever-changing line-up with a stable core, consisting of keyboard player David Freudl, guitarist Tomáš Procházka and drummer Leoš Kropáček. It has always been concerned with improvised music built on psychedelia, fragments of noise, jazz and rock with an outlandish reference to the specific sound of the prior Eastern Bloc.

B4 is the Only Czech Music Group Actively Producing Krautrock

The group´s studio recordings and live performances are highly distinctive. In a similar way to those of Can or Nurse with Wound they are a homogeneous current of wild improvisation. As in the case of the British The Bays we can also say of B4 that, "performance is the product."
The group decided years ago to work exclusively on historical, analogue instruments. Hence their collection contains Vermona organ pipes, analogue Korg and Siel keyboards, tape echo and replicas of Italian wah wah pedals from the sixties.

B4 mentions a number of influences in Czech artists Petr and Pavel Orm (ORM), Steve Reich, the Medeski, Martin and Wood project, Einstuerzende Neubauten and two compositions in particular from Money Mark: Information Contraband and Push the Button.

B4 recorded and released several CDrs in their own studio on their own label, of which the first is also available as a free download. In 2010 they released their five first official recordings RINGO GEORGE PAUL JOHN on the Prague label Polí pět.

In 2011, the double album Didaktik Nation Legendary Rock was released on the same label, and later awarded the Vinyl Prize for Album of the Year 2011.

A NEW ALBUM LUX OXID RELEASED JUST NOW!

Reviews

"This musical skirmish, during which an automatic drum from former East Germany sits next to a modern laptop, and musical software is on first name terms with electronic guitar effects made in Tesla Vráble, again shows that treasure is sometimes to be found in the very places where one least expects it."

Antonín Kocábek,Týden.cz

"B4 could be one of the most significant Czech bands of the forthcoming era, although current times don´t make its position simple. If we take a look at the current scene, we find a fair number of "new" bands whose line-up are in their forties; only now are they finding a way to express something unique. The more active public should not miss B4 (Handa Gote neither, it must be said). Since the advent of "theatrical" bands MIDI LIDI and Dva, nothing better than this has arrived on the Czech scene."

Pavel Klusák, Lidové Noviny

"This must be heard. One of the most distinctive bands of this part of the world is now in creative mode
moving perhaps faster than ever since it came into existence twelve years ago."

Jan Faix, HIS Voice

"With its current double album, B4 proves its strength of form and confirms that the rating of its previous album among the top domestic titles of interest last year, was definitely no coincidence. In short, there is really no-one else here playing in quite such an inspired way, maintaining down-to-earth melodies, highly researched sound and a combination of musicianship and experiment to boot."

Antonín Kocábek,Týden.cz

"B4 is pleasure in music and an intelligent, self-assured realisation of the possibilities of its ancestry. I doubt that a better album will be released this year in the Czech Republic.."

Petr Ferenc, ČRo Wave

B4-Avomet, CD Ringo George Paul John 2010 from b 4 on Vimeo.