When I first heard this album I thought to myself, “Sh!t, this is the best album I’ve heard all year!” After a month or so of listening to Traineater I can stick to that opinion. The Book of Knots have created a tribute to the decaying landscape that is the heart of industrial America. The core members of The Book of Knots—Matthias Bossi, Joel Hamilton, Tony Maimone, and Carla Kihlstedt—have teamed up with some amazing talents including Megan Reilly, Mike Watt, and the man himself Tom Waits.

My first impression of Traineater, well first after Holy Sh!t, was that this album is the bastard child of Tom Waits and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. I suppose considering who’s involved in the production of Traineater that isn’t exactly a quantum leap of the imagination. What struck me though is how much it deviated from the somber depressive tone of their first self-titled album. Traineater borrows a lot from Waits’ Mule Variations album. They’ve take the dirty booze-hound blues that Waits does so well and mixed it with their own fusion of Post Punk and Classical sensibilities to create something that I’m increasingly beginning to consider Millennial Folk.

Traineater is very story-telling in it’s lyrical approach. Take the title track Traineater for instance, Carla languishes in her bitter sweet voice the tale of old number six as she takes her last trip down the line into the gaping maw of the Traineater poised to tear her apart. Additionally, a fair number of tracks are merely spoken word with a subtle accompaniment banging away in the background.

Like I said before, Traineater is definitely a top pick for the year. It’s rough and dirty, a real slice of modern Americana. I surely doubt that you’ll find an band pulling this style of music who does it half as well as The Book of Knots has done with Traineater.

The rabbit trail:
The Book of Knots official home.
Anti- Traineater page.
Buy it from Amazon.