“The Commune” introduces the life and jobs of a worker bee. Insects in general do not sleep in the sense that people do. “Vulcha Beesting” is one human’s perspective. Yes, I was thinking of the Pixies “Subbaculcha.” “Bee B Movie” is a plot summary of “Invasion of the Bee Girls” from 1973. “Robber Bee” is sung by the guard bees of one hive to attacking desperados from another. This kind of crime really happens! “Kaibob” is about bees in the Grand Canyon, where the Kaibob National Forest is. I have read that bees like to fly from A to B as close to the ground as possible. Therefore in the Grand Canyon, or “upside-down mountain,” they would have to really get down. “Melissa” is the story of young Zeus, raised and protected from his father Chronos by Melissa, a beekeeping shepherd on the island of Crete. “100 Flowers” is the inevitable innuendo song. When I was a kid I was impressed by how a bumblebee might bend a flower nearly to the ground when landing on it. “Funny Motherfucker” is a song of mourning for several workers. “Windowsill” is the story of a worker’s brush with death. It has a happy ending. “The Swarm” conveys a little of how bee nations move. “Exile of the Drones” describes the useless male bees being driven from the hive to die in the fall. “Cold House” was written by Dan and recorded in glorious mono in one take. “Honey” is not really about honey. Or is it?

“Historic Highland Park”
A musician explores his neighborhood.

I’ve written about the lives of scientists for two records, sung from the perspective of bees on one, described people as a form of weather in “Evaporation,” added melodies to Sex Pistols songs, and recently gone in a zoological direction with “26 Animals.” Most of the time I prefer to write songs by taking some sort of leap — to sing as a frog, a bumblebee, or Albert Einstein. But on “Historic Highland Park” I stayed closer to home. I looked at my neighborhood, my experience living here, and a little of its history. Here’s what’s on the record:

“Trash Day” was written on a shiny spring Tuesday, which is trash day in Highland Park. When we play the song live, Steve performs his infectious trash can dance. “Highland Park” is the title song. The street I live on, “Figueroa Street,” was once the longest street in Los Angeles. “Old Man Brunk” is about the first white dude living in the Arroyo Seco. Not much is known about him, but I like that he left San Francisco “because the town was good.” Next: “Arroyo Seco.” Behold the concrete trough! But touch not the waters, especially in August. “Here Come The Hipsters” is a paranoid fantasy of Sunset Strip creep creepage. I hope it’s paranoid, anyway. “Our Back Yard Is Full of Cats” was written on a day when our back yard was indeed full of cats. “A Country Boy In Highland Park” features Steve’s theremin in its full glory. Yes, I grew up with a composting toilet of my father’s invention. And I used to sing to cows while waiting for the school bus. Cows took a real interest in my early vocal work. Those Holsteins would hear me and amble over across the fields to stand nice and close, chewing and looking and paying mysterious and profound brown-eyed attention to my every syllable. Which does not remind me of “Mr. T’s Bowl,” our favorite indie rock bar in these parts. “El Dorado” is Artichoke’s first song longer than seven minutes, and includes a short history of California and our place in the grand scheme. Finally, I went out on the porch and played “Charles Lummis,” a biography of Highland Park’s own corduroy-clad humanitarian booster of the Southwestern United States, its people and history.

Big thanks go to Daniel Leyson for playing guitar on “Trash Day” and “Highland Park,” to Steve Collins for his theremin on “A Country Boy In Highland Park,” and to David Hurlin for playing drums all over the record. Also thanks to the organizers of “Lummis Day” for having Artichoke play in 2008.

Timothy Sellers
Artichoke
greeen records, 2009

Lia Carpenter says –
Great kids album for adults too!
This is a great album for kids of parents who will fall asleep while driving if they have to listen to Barney. It rocks, but softly enough for one year olds. Mine loves to dance to it and is encouraged to learn the kazoo so she can play the cool solos that are thrown in throughout. I am encouraged by her already good taste in music. The songs are very educational and have raised my curiosity enough to do further reading just for my own benefit. The content is obviously well-researched, and revels in little-known facts, like the 26 Scientists albums that preceded this cd. It is presented with catchy, rhymy lyrics, fun background sounds, interesting intstruments and the alphabet. What more could you want?

Jim Cheetham says –
Complete your collection of scientists!
Another pumping, catchy and overall intelligent sample of the history of influential scientists, not all of them as well-known as they should be. You’ll learn heaps about the people themselves, and several of the riffs will get firmly stuck in your head (Oliver Sacks discusses these “earworms” in his excellent book Musicophilia, by the way). Do your brain a favour along with your ears, and buy this album!