The Biggest, Oddest (and Most Unique) Sound in New York

The college students returned a week ago determined to experience the Dream House. They emerged almost two hours later also reporting feelings of calm. "It's really intense," said Gary Edwards, a sophomore studying journalism. "It's intimidating when you don't know what you're in for, but it was awesome. It was like yoga, or listening to rushing water." The students also claimed to hear songs and melodies within the complexity, an experience common with the Dream House. "I could have sworn I heard the Benny Hill theme song," said Carey. Another one of the students, Erica Fald, was certain she could hear parts of Rihanna's "Disturbia."

"Some people are really taken by it," says Rich Hazelton, a DJ at WFMU who has helped monitor the Dream House for the last 10 years. "Monitors" are unpaid interns who sign up to help supervise the exhibit. "One time a large group of people started showing up," he recalls. "They started sitting in semi circles and making ohming sounds. They hadn't contacted us ahead of time. It turns out they were going to perform some sort of Aleister Crowley ritual. They looked like they stepped out of a British sci-fi show."

Since it opened, the Dream House has been oft visited by music cognoscenti. Brian Eno and David Byrne used to come to Young and Zazeela's earlier Dream House installation on Harrison Street in the 1980s, and members of Sonic Youth have frequented the Church Street House over the years. Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore used to be a contributor to the MELA Foundation, Young and Zazeela's organization. The composer Glenn Branca held his wedding in the Church Street Dream House.

Andy Battaglia, a staff writer for the Onion A/V Club, sometimes likes to take his subjects to the Dream House before he interviews them. He's brought Fiona Apple and the members of Olivia Tremor Control in the past. Last May, while on assignment he took Animal Collective to the Dream House before interviewing them at a bar nearby. "They were really into it," he says. "We hung out there for like half an hour and laid out on the floor staring at the ceiling. It made sense to take them there because their music has such mysticism about it. I find there's an interesting communion you can have with people there without talking. There's no mistaking the environment you're in when you're there."