10 Dec Soultrain Profiles December 2013
Cover bands have normally existed for performing tributes which never matched an original tune’s unequivocal genius. Reengineering that notion is Los Angeles-based production collective The Decoders. Accomplished musicians in their own rights, Todd Simon, Itai Shapira and Adam Berg have gone on to effortlessly recreate classics ranging from Chaka Khan’s “What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me” to Earth, Wind and Fire’s “Reasons.” The trio’s ingenious work has even attracted the attention of Okayplayer and Wax Poetics among others.
2012 was a great year for R&B, thanks to creatively progressive projects from Frank Ocean (Channel Orange) and Miguel (Kaleidoscope Dreams). Both albums represented pentagram shifts in a genre which many perceived as stagnant for quite some time. Most importantly, doors were opened for artists leaning toward new and innovative sounds. That includes Los Angeles-based duo BC Kingdom. Members Logan and Zou form the experimental R&B collective which evolved from a small collaboration to acquiring their own sizable following. “We initially came together as a collaborative effort,” said Zou. “I would help him with melodies, then that turned into us performing together and us forming a group. The stars aligned like it was meant to be.”
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