“Instant Cash For Gold” by Jill Barber

Jill Barber is back and planning on trading her old songs in like “Instant Cash for Gold”.

The brand new song is a competitive folksy tune, which Jill says is “a reflection on the chasm that exists between the personal value that music holds for people, relative to its commercial value. Sadly, the persistent undervaluing of music forces so many of us musicians to trade it all in—often in a defeated way, much like those willing to trade in their most valued possession out of pure desperation to have cash in hand.”

“Instant Cash for Gold” is the first single off her upcoming album Homemaker, written about the disparity between Jill Barber the musician, and Jill Barber the wife & mother. She jokes, “One day I was headlining Massey Hall, and the next day I was sweeping a messy hall”

Mark down February 10th as the release date of Homemaker, on Outside Music

Kirk

“I Can’t Grow Up” by Tegan and Sara

Another week, another track from Tegan and Sara’s upcoming album Crybaby - due out October 21st.
”I Can’t Grow up is a fun little pop song about “not being able to grow out of bad habits in relationships”, which definitely seems to be a recurring theme with the new music.

On top of the album the twins new show High School, which is based on their NYT best-selling memoir, is also debuting this month on Amazon Prime on October 28th. I’ve seen a few clips and am definitely going to be tuning in!

Christine

“Ghost” by Tim Sheinman

What if Celine Dion and Elliott Smith fell in love, when they were both up for an Academy Awards in 1998?

That’s the question that the upcoming narrative puzzle game Riley & Rochelle wants to answer. A tale of love & pop in the 90s, the game features music co-written by developer Tim Sheinman and Natalia Yanchak from The Dears, who also co-write the game.

In the game, you put together a documentary about the titular pair, piecing together their rise and fall, in both music and love, with an original 16-song soundtrack that spans their careers. Natalia says "We get to a point in the story where Riley and Rochelle are writing music together, and we really see their worlds collide. While these two musicians are super happy recording whatever songs they want, their labels and fans are not. So we have our indie rocker and our pop diva collaborating on something that comes out like Portishead, Bjork, or Zero 7. Riley and Rochelle are making weird, unusual art without any consideration for marketability or capitalist intentions. The fallout is brutal and you'll have to play the game to find out how it ends!"

“Ghost” is the second song released from the game, and featured vocals from Colombes Ran. You can check out the full soundtrack, as well as the game, on October 18th. But if you can’t wait, you can check out a demo of the game on Steam right now!

Kirk