Blood Red Shoes, "Don't Ask"

It is very easy for new British bands to get lost in the NME-led shuffle of Next Brilliant Things, which is a shame for acts like Blood Red Shoes, a biting male-female duo out of Brighton who are currently flogging their second full-length album, Fire Like This. (It’s not available in the States yet, annoyingly enough.) “Don’t Ask”, the record’s latest single, sounds like a post-postpunk tug of war between Steven Ansell and Laura-Mary Carter, who trade off vocal duties (his is petulant, hers is recorded in such a way that it sounds directly lifted from the Lush back catalog) over pounding drums and taut, wiry guitars. It’s pretty great listening for a rainy, chilly day like the one NYC is currently experiencing.