Ye Olde Hit Parade: Elevator Operator

Editor's note: Ye Olde Hit Parade takes a look back at my favorite songs year by year (starting in 1978, when I really started paying attention to music).

2015: Courtney Barnett - Elevator Operator

When looking back at a year in the not-too-distant past, it's funny to see what your thoughts were at the time about it. Here's what I wrote about 2015 in my year-end music wrap-up: "From a general news standpoint, 2015 was flat-out fucked. Crazy-ass mass shootings on the regular, idiotic acts of aggression from pretty much every global power and some up-and-comers, a dogshit political system dredging up the lowest of the low in the latest U.S. presidential election folly."

I'm sure at the time I thought there was no way things could get any worse. HA.

The 2016 presidential campaigns were in full swing, with Bernie Sanders gaining in popularity, while the top Republicans at the end of 2015 were Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Notable deaths included Leonard Nimoy, B.B. King, Moses Malone and Lemmy of Motorhead.

Things were stable on the work front. No traveling, but plenty to do in the office. On the home front, I was busy with my various activities but also with coaching and attending my kids' soccer games. We went to Disney World again for a big extended family vacation in August.


As I continued doing my radio show, I was able to get on indie label promo lists and increase my access to new music from artists like Mike Krol, Nai Harvest, Flagland, White Reaper, Pile, Nadine Shah and Stove. I discovered Jeff Rosenstock, Beach Slang and Colleen Green. And I enjoyed music from established acts like METZ, Speedy Ortiz, Ty Segall and Destroyer. There were also new releases from bands that had recently reunited including Faith No More, Sleater-Kinney and Swervedriver.

I had a busy concert schedule, including The Tragically Hip, Sleater-Kinney, Swervedriver/Gateway Drugs, Ex Hex/Kuroma, Rough Francis/Varsity Drag, Soccer Mom/Infinity Girl/Chandos, David Bazan, The Upper Crust/Watts/Humpmuscle, an Exploding In Sound show with Krill/Big Ups/LVL Up/Stove/Palehound, Bob Mould, Ride and Elizabeth Colour Wheel/Coaches/Gold Muse.


Another discovery in '15 was Courtney Barnett, an Australian singer-guitarist who released her debut album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit. I actually had heard a few songs from an EP she released the year before, but this was my first extended listen to her. There was some buzz about her sounding like Nirvana, but I didn't get that. She reminded me much more of Stephen Malkmus, both vocally and musically. She has a wordy, almost talk-singing style, while the band rocks furiously at times and laconically at others. Barnett's lyrics are wordy ruminations on the mundane aspects of everyday life but her laid-back delivery is compelling, especially on slow-burners like "Small Poppies" and "Depreston." But she flat-out rocks on upbeat numbers like "Pedestrian at Best," "Dead Fox" and my favorite song of the year, "Elevator Operator." She rocks hard but doesn't take herself seriously, like an honorary Gen Xer (at least the ones that didn't take themselves seriously, anyway). She's justified the hype in the last few years, with a couple of excellent releases and a tremendous live act.
 
Honorable mentions: METZ - "Acetate"; Courtney Barnett - "Pedestrian at Best"; Palehound - "Molly"; Speedy Ortiz - "Raising the Skate"; Colleen Green - "TV"; Jeff Rosenstock - "Novelty Sweater"; Jeff Rosenstock - "Get Old Forever"; Mike Krol - "This is the News"; Wimps - "Take It as It Comes"; Mikal Cronin - "Say"; Ty Segall - Drug Mugger"; Protomartyr - "The Devil in His Youth"; Pile - "#2 Hit Single"; The 20/20 Project - "Got It Made"; Krill - "Foot"; Flagland - "Awesome Song, Kerry Jan"; Nai Harvest - "Spin"; Bully - "Sharktooth"; Eagles of Death Metal - "The Reverend"; Kuroma - "Love is on the Way"; Nadine Shah - "Fool"; Hard Left - "Imagination"; Titus Andronicus - "Dimed Out"; White Reaper - "Pills"; Jesse Malin - "Turn Up the Mains"; Mac McCaughan - "Lost Again"; Barrence Whitfield and the Savages - "Incarceration Casserole"; Infinity Girl - "Dirty Sun"; Chandos - "Cobra Points"; Beach Slang - "Young & Alive"; Destroyer - "Dream Lover"; Wilco - "Random Name Generator"; Woolen Men - "Hard Revision"; Viet Cong - "Continental Shelf"; Faith No More - "Sunny Side Up"; Sleater-Kinney - "Bury Our Friends"; Stove - "Aged Hype"; Swervedriver - "Autodidact"; The Weeknd - "Can't Feel My Face"; Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars - "Uptown Funk"