The Dream Syndicate may have first made their mark in the ‘80s, as leaders of LA’s Paisley Underground, but since reuniting in 2012 the band has released some of their strongest material. Earlier this month they debuted their second album since reforming, These Times, to great acclaim. The record follows 2017’s Did I Find Myself Here?, their first album since 1988’s Ghost Stories, and was produced by John Agnello (Phosphorescent, Waxahatchee, Hold Steady, Dinosaur Jr.).
Today’s Song of the Day is the album’s trancey lead single “Black Light.” Frontman Steve Wynn found some unlikely inspiration for their fifth studio album, producer/rapper J Dilla.
“When I was writing the songs for the new album I was pretty obsessed with Donuts by J Dilla. I loved the way that he approached record making as a DJ, a crate-digger, a music fan wanting to lay out all of his favorite music, twist and turn the results until he made them into his own. I was messing around with step sequencers, drum machines, loops — anything to take me out of my usual way of writing and try to feel as though I was working on a compilation rather than ‘more of the same.’ You might not automatically put the Dream Syndicate and J Dilla in the same sentence, but I hear that album when I hear our new one.”
Earlier this year, the Dream Syndicate contributed to the Paisley Underground covers compilation 3 x 4: The Bangles, The Three O’Clock, The Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade. Watch the trippy video for “Black Light” below.
