Sarah Jaffe stays focused, glasses or no glasses. (Allison V. Smith)

A little treat to end the day: Robert Jenkins of Summer Break Records just stopped by the office to drop off the latest--and this time, we're told, final--version of folk wunderkind Sarah Jaffe's EP, Even Born Again, which is set for official release in a few weeks.

In case you didn't see it already: Robert reiterated it in our DOMA cover package what most of us have known for some time--mainly, that Jaffe's a talent bound for bigger things than just the DFWd scene.

And for the have-to-see-it-to-believe-it types out there, here's some proof:

Bonus mp3: Sarah Jaffe -- "Even Born Again"

It's the opening and, obviously, title track on the EP. Enjoy. --Pete Freedman

This week’s poster was designed by Emil Rapstine, lead singer of The Angelus and one of the musicians on this bill, which also includes Will Johnson and Micah P. Hinson.

As you can see, it’s a symmetrical, fairly simple design. Music editor Pete Freedman remarked that it looks like it belongs on a beer can. I can see that, though it looks more like a cigarette package to me. Both of us intended the comparisons as compliments, in case you were wondering. Cheap suds and smokes fit right in at The Double-Wide. -Jesse Hughey

Denton's Fight Bite keeps getting all sorts of Internet love--last week alone, the band found itself, again, with mentions on Stereogum and Gorilla vs Bear, among other blogs and local publications--despite the fact that the band's disc won't see an official national release until October (well, as is currently planned; the band is still seeking a distributor).

After my last, apparently incendiary post on Fight Bite, I caught the duo, as promised, and, well, I did enjoy it. The band's music is, without question, beautiful--especially "Swissex Lover", the first song that really launched the act around the Web.

But, and I think the band would even agree here, the live show still does need a lot of work. I mean, I guess self-deprecation is cool and all, but c'mon, do you have to make fun of yourselves and your stage presence after every song? That's only so endearing... and it takes away from getting lost in the beauty of the songwriting.

Let's hope that the self-loathing fits are just a phase--and that this recent bit of good press will give the band some much-needed on-stage confidence as it heads into the final and, coincidentally, only Dallas leg on a string of shows aimed to sell advance copies of the new disc, Emerald Eyes.

Catch Fight Bite's free Good Records in-store gig at 6 p.m. on Saturday, where the band will perform alongside Nouns Group and Fake Blood. --Pete Freedman

We're still waiting on this new-ish album, but two other Tomorrowpeople albums are now on iTunes.

Yesterday, just a day after we mentioned the fact that Tomorrowpeople were still waiting for iTunes to make their music available, Erich Scholz emailed to let us know that Marijuana Beach and Golden Energy are now both for sale on Apple’s online music store. For those keeping score, that makes two down, one to go.

“We're readying Bounced and Renounced -- our first official 'new' album -- and it'll be available on iTunes in a few weeks,” Scholz wrote on the band’s MySpace blog last night.

So it looks like tonight’s Dutch Treats/Tomorrowpeople/Chomsky show is now a tri-purpose affair: bon voyage party for John Freeman, birthday party for Cabe Booth and iTunes release celebration for Tomorrowpeople. As if you needed another reason to go. -Jesse Hughey

To end the day today, I give you the above image, a hand-drawn flowchart given to the music editor at our sister paper in St. Louis (ye good ole RFT) after she openly asked (and I'm paraphrasing) "So why, again, do so many people still give a shit about the Toadies?"

A Dallas ex-pat living in St. Louis and running this here blog drew it up for her.

Well done, sir. Well done, indeed. --Pete Freedman

Life will imitate art imitating life on Nov 12 at Nokia Theatre.

Me? I'd prefer it better if, say, this game toured:

Quick, grab the umbrella! --Pete Freedman

Wasn't able to make it to Sons on Saturday night to see Apples in Stereo play the homey Deep Ellum venue.

(Total sidenote: It's a nice venue, but I don't get why everyone's always so up in arms over-the-top crazy about the place. Are people just really big Marty McFly fans around here or something? 'Cause this is all I can think about whenever I see a show there. Am I alone on this?)

Heard good things about the show, though. Saw 'em, too, courtesy of freelance photographer Nathaniel Ng, who kindly passed along a couple pics from the show (including the one above, and the fother five after the jump). Check 'em out. --Pete Freedman

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(Annie Ray)

Well, speak of the devil. Just a week after we wrote about former SMU student Astronautalis in our DOMA feature, the Best Rap/Hip Hop winner announced some juicy details about his upcoming album. Even better, he posted a track you can stream from his MySpace page.

And while calling Astro a local product is a bit of a stretch these days—he’s not from here and hasn’t lived here for half a decade--“The Wondersmith And His Sons” wouldn’t exist without the input of some bona fide North Texans. In fact, the same could be said for the John Congleton-produced album Pomegranate as a whole, as it’s loaded with contributions from musicians from The Paper Chase, Midlake, The Polyphonic Spree and other locals.

Bolstering Astro and Congleton on “The Wondersmith And His Sons” are Sean Kirkpatrick on piano, Kris Youmans on cello, Midlake's McKenzie Smith on drums and Tamara Cauble (of The Polyphonic Spree and Telegraph Canyon) on violin—all D/FW artists. Maybe calling him a local isn’t so much of a stretch after all. -Jesse Hughey

Thanks to the guys at Gutterth, who apparently filmed the whole Best Instrumentalists set at last week's DOMA Ceremony, you can now relive that pretty awesome showcase of talent--at no cost!

Also, thanks to the folks at the Granada, you can also catch individual song performances from the most of the other performers from throughout the night: Doug Burr, Sarah Jaffe, The Whiskey Folk Ramblers, THe BAcksliders and Record Hop (no word on Lil Wil or any of The Cannabinoids' sets, though). So, check those out, too.

But first, the full set of the Best Instrumentalists' pretty genius re-interpretations--all five of 'em--after the jump. --Pete Freedman

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John Freeman, the mastermind behind The Dooms U.K., Telethon, Sloppyworld and too many other contributions to Dallas’ music and art history to list, is bidding adieu to the Big D at the end of August. His Dutch Treats, however, will say goodbye to the city about a month before then.

The Dutch Treats perform at The Double-Wide Thursday at a birthday party for Dallas artist Cabe Booth.
Ratcheting up the late ‘90s nostalgia will be Chomsky and the recently reunited Tomorrowpeople.

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We've had plenty of Play-N-Skillz talk around this blog and in the paper lately.

So, you should be familiar with the half-Venezuelan, half-Argentinean sibling duo behind the burgeoning South Irving hip-hop production team by now.

And, if you want to further familiarize yourself with their work, check out this new video from Lil Wayne. Play-N-Skillz produced the track--"Got Money," which features T-Pain and is the third single off Wayne's Tha Carter III. --Pete Freedman

Our favorite local Pixies-influenced garage rock band, The Cut*Off, are coming home after a few tour stops along the east coast opening up for Old 97’s.

“The crowd response was great,” says guitarist Jayson Hamilton, which is kind of surprising considering that the bands are so stylistically dissimilar.

Good to know those 97’s fan are a tolerant bunch. And, actually, that makes three-for-three on this tour: Upon return, members of I Love Math and The Crash That Took Me, two other local products that each opened for a leg of the 97's' tour, also reported positive feedback about their stints with the 97's. So cheers to the 97's for supporting a few locals...

But back to The Cut*Off: Packed Up For Beginners, the band's outstanding third release that came out in April is still in heavy rotation at my house and should be in yours as well. Catch the band at Club Dada this Saturday and ask them if they got any songwriting tips from Rhett Miller or Murry Hammond, while on the road. (Like they need them.) --Darryl Smyers

Like sands through the hourglass, these are the Dallas music-related videos uploaded to Youtube this weekend...

The U.S. Air Guitar Championship regional finals for Dallas were held at the House of Blues' restaurant on Saturday night. Here's Johnny Van Fretmaster's attempt to win the Dallas event. Oh, and the jackass judges who gave this guy a 5.2? That's Darryl Smyers and me. Enjoy hearing us get booed...

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Apples in Stereo hits Sons on Saturday. (Josh Kessler)

We already told you about some shows going down this weekend, like The Romantics, Dave Koz, Mastodon (part of tonight’s Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival at Starplex) and Journey.

I know, I know, you deserve better. Here are a few other options:

Mom, Telethon, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, Responsible Johnny
Friday, July 25 at Club Dada
This is a solid lineup, if a bit unusually matched. I don't see anything that any of these acts have in common, but they I like them all, with the possible exception of Telethon, of which I know very little, except that John Freeman is involved.

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A quick Google image search tells me this is what a mastodon looks like:

Docile enough, yes? Won't melt your face like this Mastodon?

Well, crappy segue aside, here's the deal about the latter: The Atlanta-based torche-carriers of the metal scene are going to be blowing up some amps at Superpages.com Center all day long today (with some other supposed metal saviors) as part of the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival tour. And, sure, I guess it technically started at noon today (oh well, its not like anyone you want to see will be on before now...), but we've got a pair of tickets to give away for the more sluggish metalheads out there.

So, first person to email me with the word "Snuffleupagus" (how's that for high brow?) in the subject line scores the tix.

Have at it.

Update: Contest is over. Congrats to the winner! --Pete Freedman