Alien I Creator – A Tribute to Roky Erickson Vol. 2 (2026, CD, Gruselthon) 

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Gruselthon

Format: CD, Album, Limited Pyramid Edition (CD comes with a psychedelic, artistically designed cardboard cover, an exciting spaceship craft sheet, and a wonderful sticker. Humans and monsters rejoice in equal measure)

Format: CD, Album, Limited Pyramid Exclusive Special Edition (CD comes with a psychedelic, artistically designed cardboard sleeve, an exciting craft sheet, and a wonderful sticker. It also includes an exclusive limited pop art poster explosion created by graphic designer Olivia. Pharaohs and aliens alike will love this exclusive wall decoration)

Release Date: 1 May 2026

Few musicians have managed to make the strange feel so natural, turning monsters, aliens, ghosts, heartbreak and psychedelic visions into something deeply human. Roky Erickson was one of them. His music never really belonged to a single genre or a single era; it occupied a peculiar space somewhere between garage rock, psychedelia, horror, folk and pure imagination. Decades after his most important recordings, that strange universe continues to attract musicians from all corners of the underground.

The result is less a conventional tribute album and more a psychedelic constellation, with Roky’s songs acting as the common gravitational force. Some interpretations remain close to the darkness and melancholy of the originals, while others take unexpected detours into completely different sonic territories. Yet beneath all these transformations remains something unmistakably Ericksonian: a fascination with the strange, the beautiful, the unsettling and the otherworldly.

Welcome once again aboard the Gruselthon spaceship. The monsters are waiting, the aliens are watching, and Roky is somewhere out there, smiling.

Limited Pyramid CD Edition

Limited Pyramid Exclusive Special CD Edition

A few words about the participating artists, according to the label’s press release, combined with our own impressions of their contributions:

1. The Creeping Candies – “Fire in My Bones” — Hailing from Augsburg and emerging from the German underground of the late ’80s, The Creeping Candies bring their rough garage-punk blues attitude into this electrified interpretation of Roky. Their version of “Fire in My Bones” carries an intense Neo-Americana, country-ish flavour. At the same time, the raw guitar energy gives the song that dirty, restless and gloriously underground character that suits them perfectly.
2. L’Église du Mouvement Péristaltique Inverse – “Visages Blancs” — The French project of Nik Grey and Charles Pietri moves through ghostly synthetic pop and dark electronics, and their French-language take on “White Faces” fits beautifully into that aesthetic. Charming, shadowy and fully electronic, it transforms Roky’s supernatural atmosphere into a strangely elegant piece of dark synthetic pop.
3. Weltraumservice – “Splash 1” — Led by Limo of the Shiny Gnomes, Weltraumservice have always had a natural tendency to wander between folk, psychedelia and electronic experimentation. Here, “Splash 1” becomes a deeply electronic affair, with a naked, folkie vocal floating beneath spacey effects and the cold pulse of a drum machine. Earth and cosmos collide in a wonderfully stripped-down arrangement.
4. Maline & Justin – “You Don’t Love Me Yet” — Maline Zickow, from the acclaimed string quartet Eklipse, brings Roky’s melancholic songwriting into a completely instrumental setting. Drenched in darkness and melancholy, the piece is carried by a cold yet deeply emotional violin, allowing the sadness of the original to emerge in an intimate and almost chamber-like form.
5. Crayon Moon – “The Wind and More” — Belgian underground outfit Crayon Moon attack Roky’s song with considerable energy, and this is one of the versions that stays relatively close to the original. The excitement never lets up, while the cool guitar work adds enough personality to make their interpretation of “The Wind And More” feel like a powerful live-wire encounter with Roky’s psychedelic rock.
6. Kyle Acheson – “Anthem (I Promise)” — Brooklyn-based composer Kyle Acheson, with his background in film, theatre and atmospheric music, takes “Anthem (I Promise)” into distinctly cinematic territory. Sentimental, ambient-like, minimalistic and dark, his interpretation unfolds slowly through an almost suspended atmosphere, revealing the emotional core of the song without unnecessary decoration.
7. Heron & Crane – “I Had to Tell You” — Dave Gibson and Travis Kokas describe their music as something close to “library music,” and here that concept meets psychedelia in wonderfully unexpected ways. Soft, dreamy and spacious, “I Had to Tell You” feels like a forgotten soundtrack to an imaginary science-fiction film, floating gently between atmospheric minimalism and psychedelic dreaminess.
8. Santa Maria Death Trip – “Reverberation” — Coming from Cabestany, France, Santa Maria Death Trip bring their sunny surf-psych identity into the Gruselthon universe. “Reverberation” is a dynamic, full-of-energy psych-garage version, drenched—quite appropriately—in reverb, with the female vocals adding another distinctive layer to the infectious rush.
9. Dreaming Strange Pedal Steel Orchestra – “Be and Bring Me Home” — This loose Hamburg collective, featuring Dina Lipowitsch and a remarkable gathering of pedal-steel players, takes Roky somewhere far more rootsy. As their name suggests, pedal steel is at the heart of the arrangement, creating a sentimental, warm, and slow folk landscape where melancholy and country longing gently embrace.
10. Jeff, Unfortunately & Kryssi B. – “For You” — Jeff Gallagher’s outsider-art sensibility and Kryssi B.’s connection to the American underground make for an appropriately personal interpretation of “For You”. Acoustic, folkie and dark, the arrangement has an isolated, almost naked atmosphere, allowing the emotional weight of the song to remain completely exposed.
11. Clay Camero – “She Lives (in a Time of Her Own)” — Clay Camero’s unconventional artistic universe proves a perfect match for Roky. His version of “She Lives (in a Time of Her Own)” sounds as if it was recorded somewhere out in nature, with thrifty, almost whispered vocals that suddenly acquire a strangely chorus-like quality. A lovely drum machine sends the whole thing into a trippy, trance-a-delic state, while the saxophone adds an exotically psychedelic touch.
12. Ren Water – “Burn the Flames” — And then comes Ren Water, delivering what for me is the absolute psychedelic highlight of the entire compilation. An AMAZING reinterpretation, built around a mind-melting Hammond organ and the heavenly presence of the Theremin, with the guitar adding everything that is still missing. Imagine Nina Hagen standing on a dark, cold Cabaret stage in the 1920s and performing “Burn The Flames”, a strange psychedelic ritual. It is an epic, psychedelically shocking reinterpretation, and when it fades out at 5:47, the only thought is: why? I could have listened to that Hammond for another five, ten, twenty minutes. Ren gave her entire soul to this version.
13. Sarg Usuk & Dispens – “Slip Inside This House” — Experimental musician Dispens joins guitarist Sarg Usuk for a radically slowed-down and strangely atmospheric interpretation. Acoustic textures, ambient-like neofolk, a dark and isolated feeling, and whispering vocals create a wonderfully weird soundscape. Almost completely stripped of its original momentum, “Slip Inside This House” becomes a slow, psychedelic drift through some very distant and lonely landscape.
14. Karen Zanes – “Unforced Peace” — Karen Zanes brings the compilation to its conclusion with a beautifully understated interpretation of “Unforced Peace”. Acoustic, relaxing and almost floating, the arrangement remains deliberately naked, avoiding excessive orchestration and leaving essentially the voice and maracas to carry the song. There is something quietly experimental and wonderfully weightless about this final farewell.

“Alien I Creator – A Tribute to Roky Erickson Vol. II” succeeds because it never tries to define Roky Erickson’s legacy through a single sound. Instead, it opens the door and lets fourteen very different musical personalities enter, each carrying their own interpretation, from garage punk and surf psychedelia to electronic minimalism, folk, experimental music, and full-blown lysergic madness. Some versions stay close to the spirit of the originals, others take them somewhere completely unexpected, but that sense of curiosity is precisely what makes the collection work. And somewhere in the middle of all these strange journeys, Ren Water’s “Burn the Flames” stands like a psychedelic supernova. A fitting tribute to an artist who always reminded us that the weirdest places are often the most beautiful ones. Invest! TimeLord Michalis

Tracklist

Links

Listen / Buy through GRUSELTHON Bandcamp