Sonic Disorder Podcast

A little history and lore about our favorite season!!

Roky Erickson's legacy is like "a riddle wrapped up in an enigma". He was extremely talented, influential, and should have been one of the biggest stars! He has also been recognized as an "Outsider Music" legend! His story is larger than his music. It's complicated and heartbreaking.One thing that's not complicated is his groundbreaking influence with the 13th Floor Elevators, leading to the inspiration for the "Nuggets" compilations of the early 70's, which was the core influence on punk, garage, art-rock, noise-rock, and so many genres.Their quintessential masterpiece, "The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators", released in 1966, is an absolute whirlwind of psychedelic euphoria, which takes you high into a nirvana-like state of the mind and soul, while at the same time plunging you deep into the depths of paranoid, dark, delusional horror. Roky spent his life in a tormented hell of chaotic agony brought through extensive schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder. Music was his only escape. and reprieve. As his career progressed, he was routinely taken advantage of, with many promoters turning him into a "carnival sideshow"As is, unfortunately the case with many "outsider" musicians, sometimes their tragic mental health stories become more of a "sideshow" fascination, overshadowing an actual appreciation of their music. We want to assure you that we both love this music, and the tragic issues these artists suffered from were only small parts of the story. This is some of the most raw, heartfelt, and beautifully honest music.The story of Roky Erickson is one we are so looking forward to sharing with you.Thank you for being here.

As part of our "Outsider Music" series, we are going to explore the life of Daniel Johnston and his everlasting impact on musicDaniel's story is quite tragic, as he suffered greatly from severe mental health issues, but from that came someunbelievably beautiful music and visual art!!

The chaotic scene of 1960's Laural Canyon, beginning with the surf culture and ending with the Manson murders. In this episode, we will be exploring the chaos the LA scene endured and drawing similarities to some present day issues.

Thanks for joining us, we can't wait to share all of these stories with you!