Preview: Fujiya & Miyagi, School of Seven Bells

Fujiya & Miyagi, School of Seven Bells
Paradise Rock Club
$15

Image of Fujiya & Miyagi taken from the band's Myspace page.

Wish your indie rock had a little more soul? Not the Barry White, deep-throated vocals over slow-grooves version, but rather a diversion from the tired-and-true, guitar-chic patterns that grace the upper echelons of American Apparel-sponsored web-space. Tonight, the Paradise offers just the ticket, with two acts that offer soothing, electronically inspired indie with its fair share of soul.

Brooklyn's School of Seven Bells is a band that just might get more attention for their background than their musical foreground. A majority of this is due to the presence of multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Curtis, an indie rock veteran who's been a member of pre-Polyphonic Spree band Tripping Daisy and neo-stoner rockers Secret Machines, the later of which Curtis left to form School of Seven Bells. Musically, the attention paid to this trio sharply shifts from Curtis to twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, who's intertwining harmonizing makes for some pretty heady psychedelic tracks. Their recently-dropped debut, Alpinisms, is chock-full of countless songs that are simply sweeping in their trance-like vibe.

Not to be outdone, Fujiya & Miyagi have a good deal of impressive composition chops themselves. Hailing from the U.K.'s Brighton, these lads got some good-natured flak concerning their nature: they're a British trio whose name would suggest a South-east Asian origin and a sound that's altogether Germanic. Whatever little details concerning the band's makeup folks dealt out, it was about the only criticisms the band endured with their 2006 debut, Transparent Things, an altogether original take on krautrock that's just about the funkiest thing to come out of Europe today (musically, that is). Last year, the band expanded into a quartet and produced Lightbulbs, another take on laid-back, electronic minimalist dance music, a fact which happens to be the only negative critique of the album. However, Fujiya & Miyagi know best - when something's still funky, why try and retool it? Barry White would probably agree and be in line for a good spot at the Paradise for this fine evening of soul-infused indie music.