In which we give you a guided tour of this week's music section! FUN!

On your right, you'll notice cranky old awesome robot rocker the Juan Maclean:

The Juan MacLean's new album, The Future Will Come, begins with romantic dissolution and ends in domestic bliss; in between, there are robots. These robots fight, flirt, fuck, and eventually, against all logical odds, fall in love. They are voiced by John MacLean and Nancy Whang, the Juan MacLean's principal players for this album. They are, like all androids, both less than human and in some ways stronger than human, although mostly they're just a metaphor for how cold and mechanical being human can sometimes feel.

Next, twee library lurkers Camera Obscura and the "long, proud tradition" of libraries in indie-pop:

Still, what got me thinking was the song's first line: "Spent a week in a dusty library/Waiting for some words to jump at me." "French Navy" isn't about a library—it's about singer Tracyanne Campbell's pining for her enlisted beau—but opening its story among the stacks is part of a long, proud indie-pop tradition. After all, few things besides indie-pop are as bookish, non-macho, detail-oriented, earnest, and geeky as the public library. Not even Rem Koolhaas can make the library altogether cool—not that anyone who loves libraries altogether cares. And few musical styles invite the kind of obsessive filing and categorizing that indie-pop does, with its emphasis on 7-inch singles and collectible label catalogues.

Then there's ambient techno bliss-maker the Field:

Of course, the line that separates mesmerizing from monotonous is slim. Discerning between the two is what separates electronic-music stars from mediocrities, and the Field succeeds more often than not. Sometimes it seems as if Willner's songs are too overwhelmingly pleasurable, as he keeps pouring on the bliss for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, like some kind of reverse sadist.

Willner laughs and explains, "Well, that's how I like the music that I listen to myself. But I agree, it's a thin line and sometimes I take it too far. I like to push the limits, but then I do love repetitive stuff, so if you don't, the Field will be shit."

Newish weirdo ripping band Brain Fruit:

The surprise highlight of the night, though, was discovering Brain Fruit, a new trio featuring Jon Carr of Bow + Arrow that sound like a homegrown counterattack to Battles. One instrumental song was all aggressively jazzy drumming, strobing guitar drones, and glittering synth arpeggio. Another song featured militantly barked vocals over fast funk bass and stabs of guitar skronk, which all seemed to accelerate (at one point the band all stopped and Carr spat out to drummer Garrett Moore, "Okay? No? Ready? Hurry up!" before the song resumed, in what I think was all part of the act) until a terminal wash of feedback drowned everything out. Their next scheduled show is July 5 at the Comet. Highly recommended, even if there might not be crowd-surfing.

GMK's Songs For Bloggers:

Seattle now has its first real entry in the blog-rap category: GMK's new EP, appropriately (and ever self-consciously) titled Songs for Bloggers. Clocking in at just under 30 minutes, this quick-moving concept record explores the nooks and crannies of Al Gore's creation—some of you call it the internets—finding the quirks and nuances of "human interaction" that happen in the space between the ones and zeroes. Striving to find some kind of connection, our hero clicks, drags, IMs, and Gchats through the disinformation superhighway in short, spacey vignettes occasionally punctuated by a chorus of anonymous side chatter, evoking the kind of robust discourse often found in YouTube video comments ("This is not the same dude from White Van Music!"). The effect is spacious yet claustrophobic, curious yet self-absorbed—the audio equivalent of traversing the infinite digital terrain from your dirty-ass room. It's an engaging, fun listen, both as shallow and as deep as virtual life can be.

Some pointers for Decibel Festival from DEMF:

...hold as many performances outdoors as possible. Movement 2009 benefited from pleasant, sunny weather; generally, people inherently enjoy themselves more outdoors than they do in dark clubs. Decibel held outdoor gigs for the first time in 2008, at Volunteer Park and in Havana's parking lot, and those were many attendees' favorite experiences of the festival. Horton and company should strive to host even more sets alfresco. Moving the event to earlier in September or even to August could ensure better temps for such a scenario.

The Aphonia Festival:

Tacoma-based noisemakers L.A. Lungs, who play Friday, use a whole slew of keyboards, pedals, and other odd gear to fry up acidic drones as dark and polluted as the windbags stuck in downtown gridlock that their name suggests. The duo's delay-soaked trances are deeply rooted in the weirdo chemistry of couple Afterthought Lung (Nathan Markiewicz) and Leeward Lung (Lori Peterson), and damned if their live show won't hypnotize you, jaw to the floor. Prepare for a different brand of sonic bliss in the same spot the following night, when the haunting ambiences of Paintings for Animals will wash over you like waves at a heavenly deserted beach. The range of beautiful and beastly sounds on display at the Aphonia Festival is a testament to the label's diverse discography, and it should make for a weekend of shows your ears won't soon forget.

A look back at Source: Music of the Avant Garde:

It remains the bravest and boldest music magazine of all time. From 1969 to 1973, Source: Music of the Avant Garde did what no other publication has done before or since: publish radical scores and recordings in a sumptuous, deluxe package that dared to flout, expand, and piss on preeminent notions of music, notation, and performance.

Plus: It's a Hit, Up & Comings, Party Crasher, and as always our complete, searchable Music Calendar.