Where the Pyramid Met the Eye

"In 1965, his group the Spades released a single containing two Erickson songs that became crucial to the Elevators–You're Gonna Miss Me and We Sell Soul. But the leap into innerspace came when he paired up with Tommy Hall to form the Elevators in Austin, Texas, later that year. Hall was the psychedelic visionary–the one who shaped the band’s debut into being The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, the principal lyricist, and the player of the electric jug, the sound that gave the band their unearthly wobbliness–while Erickson was the singer and main composer; and what extraordinary music he composed. On that debut album, Roller Coaster is disorienting and sinister, a combination of rock'n'roll and raga-like intensity; Reverberation (Doubt) a claustrophobic nightmare; Fire Engine is garage rock taken to its logical extreme. As Rob Chapman wrote in his book Psychedelia and Other Colours: 'The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators and its follow-up, Easter Everywhere, contain some of the most primal yelps of discomfort and joy heard anywhere in rock'n'roll.'"

Michael Hann at The Guardian writes an appreciation of Roky Erickson.