It was a mid-sixties experimental musical group featuring La Monte Young and John Cale. In 1964 the ensemble contained Young and Zazeela, voices; Tony Conrad and John Cale, strings; and sometimes Terry Riley, voice. Since 1966 Young has realized the "Dream Theater" despite interruptions due to a lack of funding for such an exceptional, extensive, and expensive project.

Most of these pieces have long titles, such as The Tortoise Recalling the Drone of the Holy Numbers as they were Revealed in the Dreams of the Whirlwind and the Obsidian Gong, Illuminated by the Sawmill, the Green Sawtooth Ocelot and the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer. Likewise, his works are often of extreme length, many pieces having no beginning and no end, existing before and after a particular performance. Young and Zazeela are also on an extended sleep schedule, their "days" being longer than twenty-four hours.

Also known as The Dream Syndicate (not the same as the 80s one)