Yes, it's Pitchfork Music Festival time again. A time when approximately eighteen-billion bands that website deems worthy will make the trek to Chicago to play under (hopefully) blue skies in front of thousands at Union Park. Here's a brief snapshot of some of our favorites who are playing. On a scale of 1-10 (with the extremely important decimal points included, of course) we give these guys, like, a trillion or something.

Beach House : While not exactly a fun-in-the-sun party band, Baltimore's Beach House risk that their subtly seductive space-synths can play well to the outdoor crowd. Considering the state of mind of many people who attend outdoor music fests, this duo should have no problem winning over the kids.

Oxford Collapse: Brooklyn's Oxford Collapse are one of our very favorite bands. They play noisy guitar-pop that has a lot of friendly riffs and slighty spazzy sing-a-long choruses. They are definitely a fun-in-the-sun party band. And on a final note, let it be known that their latest album, "Remember the Night Parties," was one of the best records of 2006. And that ain't no joke.

Professor Murder : Clang-clang-clang went the cowbell. NYC's Professor Murder play happy synth-rock that sounds like DFA minus all the internal hipster angst. They don't pull out a whole bunch of tricks, but it's breezy and easy. Professor Murder are the equivalent of a beach ball. They're fun. They're bouncy. And there are a lot of different ways to stay entertained from something so simple.

The Twilight Sad : If you don't see these guys, then whah are yo mann-ahs! Sorry, that was our attempt at a Scottish accent. The Twilight Sad rock the brogue to full effect because, well, they're from Scotland. Think of these super melodic guys as hard-pop with an ambient edge. And any band that rocks both the theramin AND a thumb piano deserves your presence.

Girl Talk : Pittsburgh's Greg Gillis is Girl Talk. He's the monster mash-up DJ machine that's probably pissing off many music licensers. Girl Talk seamlessly blends snippets of songs from everybody (Neutral Milk Hotel to Busta Rhymes to Black Crows to Breeders) into one long party track that must be heard to be believed. None of the music he plays is his own...except the end result.

Dan Deacon : Dan Deacon is Baltimore's finest arty-synthy-singer nerd. When Deacon leaves his "Wham City" home, he hauls along two suitcases worth of computer gadgets, city to city, pulling together an unbelievably electric performance of Future Rock from its contents. This guy ain't no dummy either; he holds a Masters degree in Electro-Acoustic Composition. In other words, his entirely strange music of crazily mashed up beats and dumb, oddball sounds is actually kind of smart.

Deerhunter: Atlanta's Deerhunter puts on a live performance that is either enthralling or downright scary, depending on what you're in the mood for. Singer Bradford Cox dominates this show like Ozzy Osbourne used to do. This music is spacey, hazy, hypnotic and heavy. It makes me trip just thinking about this set.

Fujiya & Miyagi: Fujiya & Miyagi are a pleasant electro-pop band from England. In other words, they're only pretending to be Japanese. Ha-ha! This is fun disco-kraut-synth-funk that just makes you want to sing, "I love seeing Chicago shows in the summer."

The three day Pitchfork Music Festival takes place at Union Park, Friday, July 13th, Saturday, July 14th, and Sunday, July 15th.