The album title is a play on a Biblical verse in Isaiah 29:21 ' (the wicked) lay a snare for the arbiter (judge) at the gate' (by changing to "arbeiter" it becomes Yiddish for "worker").
[1] Of Lieberman's 22 releases to date, Arbeiter At The Gate still remains a top album pick of the AllMusic Guide[2] Arbeiter had charted on a number of college radio stations, most notably peaking at #42 on WXDU Duke University[3] and #87 at KZSU Stanford University.
[4] It was while on tour for the Arbeiter album that a reporter from Newsday interviewed Lieberman at one of his shows and stated that the essence of his music is (Lieberman's) message and emotion, not his talent in an article about outsider musicians on Long Island published on 27 February 2005.
Greg McIntish from AllMusic wrote: ' A lo-fi sonic sock in the gut built around Lieberman's ultra-fuzzed-out bass, multitudinous flute overdubs and other sundry sounds.
Rating 3.5 Stars out of 5[6] NeuFutur Magazine's James McQuiston noted: 'Although vocally, sometimes achieving an Ozzy-like inflection, the production and mixing of Arbeiter is almost painful to listen to because of the overdoing of the cheesy distortion Lieberman loves... Steve is unique, that much can be said.