Courtney Barnett lives in Melbourne, Australia, in a house she was cleaning when she answered her phone. She said it was a nice day, "kind of cold," and sounded relaxed and happy to be home after a year of on-and-off touring to promote her album, "Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit," which is gunning for best record of the year on the lists of everyone from music website Pitchfork (grade: 8.6) to boomer curmudgeon Robert Christgau (grade: A).