New Review Update: Sleigh Bells; Hausu

Halloween is just over a week away -- I'm going as a steamy aircraft carrier.

Today's first new review is Matthew Bentel's examination of Sleigh Bells third album,
Bitter Rivals:

While Sleigh Bells' trademark sound - buzzsaw guitars, blaring electro synths and 808 drums - has always been the kind of high-octane, deafening anthems of the young and restless, it reaches new heights on Bitter Rivals, an album so entrenched in the conflict motif that its title isn't just a name - it's an announcement.

Read Matthew's review here.

Then, Brian Shultz checks out the debut offering from Portland's Hausu,
Total:

... vocalist/guitarist Ben Friars Funkhouser nods rather directly to Robert Smith with a lowly, pained quaver of sorts. But it's set against those sort of roughshod, '90s-era indie/punk borderlines with incredibly tasteful, lower-fidelity layering, like a greater wall-of-sound bridge to connect the early blueprints drafted by Pavement and those being currently popularized by, say, Tigers Jaw.

Read Brian's review here.

Looking for another (or any) review? Head here. Want to write and submit your own review? Do that here.