Bait and Switch received a favorable review from
Entertainment Weekly's Ethan Smith, who wrote that the album was "short on polish, long on charm" and gave it a B+ rating.
Greg Kot also reviewed the album favorably, writing that there is "Nothing new here, just a clangorous, nasty good time courtesy of some saw-toothed riffs and a supremely estranged wit."
Robert Christgau gave
Bait and Switch an A− rating, writing that the first five songs on the album "rush by in a perfect furious tunefest". Another review of this album appeared in
Spin, in which
Eric Weisbard wrote that "House was right to reground his art, putting the way music flows and falls before singer-songwriterly commentary." He also said that on the album, House begins the process of doing something with noise, but that he does not go far enough. In
Billboard, David Sprague wrote that
Bait and Switch "retain[s] the relaxed, lo-fi vibe" that was apparent on the band's early singles. ==Discography==