sonic youth plays yoko ono
Voice Piece For Soprano (1961) is included in a new enhanced double-cd by Sonic Youth (with special guests). SYR 4 features modern compositions by e.g. Yoko Ono, John Cage and George Maciunas. "An educational excursion for the soon to be hearing impaired."

The review of SYR 4 by The Independent: "Sonic Youth's celebration of the dying century comprises their realisations of avant-garde works by composers such as John Cage, Christian Wolff, Yoko Ono and Steve Reich. A daunting prospect, given that several pieces derive from the blackboard-and-fingernail interface of the avant-garde. But there's pleasure to be had from James Tenney's "Having Never Written A Note For Percussion", in which bells and looming guitar noise sustain a recognisably uniform terrain, and Wolff's "Burdocks", in which a recurring figure is swapped between bass, vibes, viola, bells and guitar, while turntablist Christian Marclay adds staccato scratches. The shortest piece is Ono's "Voice Piece for Soprano", three piercing screams from Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore's daughter Coco – fitting punishment, perhaps, for parents who have themselves tortured an eardrum or two in their time."

re-issued single imagine raises money for charity
BBC: Robbie Williams and George Michael are among a number of pop stars who have personalised copies of John Lennon's re-issued single Imagine to raise money for charity. The two chart-toppers have been joined by the likes of Bono, the Pet Shop Boys and Tina Turner to add their personal style of artwork to a sleeve of the single. The customised records are being auctioned on the MSN Britain website with each eventually being sold to highest bidders before 4 January. The money raised will go towards helping the homelessness charity Shelter. Lennon's widow Yoko Ono is behind the idea. She asked music stars if they would help to raise funds for Shelter by creating the one-off works of art while she too worked on one. She said: "It's great to be involved in a Britain charity that draws attention to such a worthwhile cause." Chris Holmes of Shelter (the National Campaign for Homeless People) said: "This is a great opportunity to raise awareness about homelessness and, thanks to Yoko Ono, will also raise vital funds so that we can continue our work."