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Austin Gets Its VW Payout

When Volkswagen AG got caught installing “defeat devices” in its diesel engines that disabled their emissions controls except when the vehicles were being tested, the resulting scandal cost the German automaker about $15 billion, some of which was earmarked to states for mitigation projects to reduce diesel emissions from all sources. Texas was allocated $209…

by Mike Clark-Madison

Soccer Watch

Local action is over for the year (except for high schools and rec leagues), but plenty to play for on the international scene this week. The U.S. finishes group play in the U-17 Women’s World Cup against Germany at 2pm Wed., Nov. 21 (on FS2), trying to become the first American team to advance out…

by Nick Barbaro

Taking Muni Court to Court?

For decades, the city has been ready to move the Austin Municipal Court away from its decrepit quarters on East Seventh Street and … somewhere, anywhere else. After purchasing the old Home Depot on I-35 and St. Johns Avenue with 2006 bond funds as a new home for the court, the city abandoned that plan…

by Mike Clark-Madison

Texas Platters

“All the children at the graveyard, they’re just jumping over rocks,” lilts Jamie Lin Wilson in casting out the title phrase to her sophomore album on the song “Death & Life.” It’s a stunningly simple yet profound line in a work full of them, capturing a dichotomy of perspectives based on unromantic reality. Whereas 2016…

by Doug Freeman

Texas Platters

Beers and fists raised from the outset of roguish Pogues/Celtic punk kick “Wild of Her Eyes,” the Dirty River Boys’ third long-player rolls behind amped guitars and fiddle-fired energy. The Austin-via-El Paso quartet understands barroom anthems, from the Waylon-esque “Backside of Uppers” to the modern Texas country rise of “Shine,” but like most barroom anthems,…

by Doug Freeman

Texas Platters

No doubt Band of Heathens means well, but remaking Ray Charles’ 1972 album A Message From the People amidst our current social climate is, well, problematic. The sincere tribute feels less like the purported salve to our rancorous times than an appropriation of struggle by five Texas easy-country rockers lacking Charles’ distinctive wail and moan.…

by Doug Freeman

Texas Platters

Re-recording the classics that propelled him to a progressive country icon in the Seventies, Dallas native Michael Martin Murphey recruited a veritable Armadillo World Headquarters reunion. Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Jerry Jeff Walker, Kelly Willis, Steve Earle, and more pitch in, but the result is more mess than nostalgia. The soft arrangements behind Murphey’s still…

by Doug Freeman

Headlines

City Council Breaks: No regular meeting for City Council this week. Members will return to the dais on Nov. 29 to tackle a slim, 62-Item agenda that includes items on short-term rental enforcement, South by Southwest code waivers, and a regional air quality plan with the Capital Area Council of Governments. See “Unity in the…

by Chronicle Staff

Unity in the Community as City Council OK’s Police Pact

It felt a little surreal last week when City Council approved a four-year, $44 million police contract filled with community-driven transparency and oversight measures. Not because of the act itself, but because everyone in the room, from cops to Council to activists, was on the same page about it. Yes, there was persistent criticism from…

by Nina Hernandez

Texas Platters

High-wattage harmonies from the Reputations’ frontline of Rockyanne Bullwinkel and Jenny Carson blast forth on melodically ferocious opening set “Tightrope” and “The Exciter,” evidencing a squalling, upper-octave vocal ambition rarely heard in rock & roll these days. Imagine if Abba’s Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad were possessed by the spirits of Sam & Dave. On…

by Kevin Curtin

Texas Platters

All of Jana Horn’s songs are likely best served in hand-sewn fabric packaging. Thus was the delivery of the serene songwriter’s fall tour tape, now up online to finally leave an eponymous digital footprint of her half-decade in Austin music, including membership with Knife in the Water and past act Reservations. In five tracks, Horn’s…

by Rachel Rascoe

Texas Platters

Three-note motifs reverberate like loose, wooden foot boards as Akina Adderley’s haunting tenor invokes a sparkling overture that crescendos into a brass maelstrom of unresolved tension on opener “The Dream.” When “dreams lay in the casket,” there’s pain and uncertainty, both feelings that metastasize in Nori’s political jazz manifesto Bruise Blood. While 2016 debut World…

by Alejandra Ramirez

Quote of the Week

“My roots are in District 1, my home is in District 1, and I am running to represent and serve in District 1.” – City Council candidate Natasha Harper-Madison, after a complaint was filed seeking to disqualify her from the run-off on residency grounds. See “Election Ticker: Run, Run, Run-off Away.”

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Live, this Austin foursome affixes “post” to a fistful of punk variants and beats them into a progressive screamo squall. Portrayal of Guilt stops, starts, and shrieks on a MF dime. Serrated by extreme metallurgy throughout debut full-length Let Pain Be Your Guide, their coiled hardcore rampages resolutely and absolutely. Elongated opener “Daymare,” which at…

by Raoul Hernandez

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

According to Yang, if you’re walking down the road and no one else is around and you hear your name, don’t answer because it may be a ghost attempting to steal your soul. According to Science, modern Mongolians milk seven different kinds of mammals and get more than a third of their calories from dairy…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

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