SYR4: Goodbye 20th Century
# SYR4: Goodbye 20th Century

SYR4: Goodbye 20th Century is an album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It is a double album of versions of pieces by avant-garde composers, performed by Sonic Youth and collaborators.

## Background

SYR4 featured works by avant-garde classical composers such as John Cage, Yoko Ono, Steve Reich and Christian Wolff, played by Sonic Youth and several collaborators from the modern avant-garde music scene, such as Christian Marclay, William Winant, Wharton Tiers and Takehisa Kosugi.

Unlike other entries in the SYR series, SYR4's liner notes were written in English.

Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon's daughter Coco Hayley Moore, about 5 years old at the time of recording, provided the vocals for "Voice Piece for Soprano" on disc 1.

## Release

SYR4: Goodbye 20th Century was released on CD and vinyl. The vinyl version had a slightly different track order, due to the side length constraints of the format. The first disc of the CD edition contained a QuickTime video of a performance of "Piano Piece No. 13 (Carpenter's Piece)", which showed Sonic Youth nailing piano keys down one by one.

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :

| Review scores ||
| - | - |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Alternative Press | |
| Robert Christgau | |
| Entertainment Weekly | C+ |
| NME | 7/10 |
| Pitchfork | 8.5/10 |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Spin | favorable |
| Sputnikmusic | 3.5/5 |

SYR: Goodbye 20th Century received mixed reviews from critics, but most praised the group's efforts at popularizing and reinterpreting the composers' works. The album placed second in The Wire's annual critics' poll for record of the year.

## Personnel

### Sonic Youth

* Thurston Moore – vocals, guitar, production
* Kim Gordon – vocals, guitar, bass, production
* Lee Ranaldo – vocals, guitar, production
* Jim O'Rourke – bass, production
* Steve Shelley – drums, percussion, production

### Additional personnel

* William Winant – percussion, production
* Takehisa Kosugi – violin
* Christian Wolff – keyboards
* Christian Marclay – turntables
* Coco Hayley Moore – vocals

### Technical

* Wharton Tiers – recording
* Luc Suer – recording
* Steve Fallone – mastering
* Chris Habib – sleeve graphics
