AthFest is great opportunity to see a bunch of bands you've never seen before. At least that's always been my take on it. So, yeah, my pick will run you around a little bit, but hopefully you'll find them worth your time. And, although it may be antithetical to the whole spirit of a music festival, the best advice I can give for seeing it all is don't drink alcohol; drink plenty of water, and keep as cool as possible. Every year I run into people who miss bands because their drunk asses were too worthless to keep it together. So, with that, here's what I think are your best bets:

On Friday, there's the varied-indie sounds of The Buddy System and Titans of Filth at Ciné. There's the total metal of In the Lurch at the Rye Bar and the pure Southern rock of Holy Liars at Tasty World. Also, let's not forget Five Eight, Kebert Xela and Down with the Woo on the outdoor stages.

On Saturday you'd better pack some water, start early and stay late. Blur is hosting the 12-hour DJ event "Wired," and even though it'll cost you an additional $5 (or $10 if you don't have a wristband), I know it's worth it. Check the AthFest website for more information on particular artists. Mikey Dwyer & the Starter Kits will rock the Downtown Athens Recording Company (DARC). On the outdoor stages the Michael Guthrie Band, Bill Mallonee and Spring Tigers will most likely each do a great job.

Sunday is always the slowest day during AthFest, but I still think you'd do well to drag yourself back downtown and see Dubconscious on the main stage. Even though it's pretty much a big group of hippies, there's simply no better reggae to be had in the Classic City.

Borrowing a little from the sonic texture of Explosions in the Sky and the aggressive attitude of Maserati, the instrumental shoe-gaze of a. armada is not to be overlooked. After rocking out SXSW, the boys in a. armada are back and sound tighter than ever as the band plans to release its new record, Anam Cara, this summer. It's the lush arrangements, sweeping melodies and overall majestic sound of a. armada that make it of one of AthFest's most anticipated acts.

A relatively new band in Athens, Twin Tigers provide enough spacey psychedelia and blistering melodies for all those who miss the Jesus and Mary Chain but still want something to dance to. Curious Faces/Violet Future is one of the best EPs to come out this year, and considering their show with A Place to Bury Strangers, it would be wise to pack some earplugs.

Blue Flashing Light is the epitome of what a good arena rock band should be: cohesive, energetic, hook-y as hell and loud. BFL is what you get when you combine The Matthew Good Band with U2. And with the way these fellas have been touring about, it won't be a surprise if you hear the next BFL song in a Honda commercial.

Haunting vocals and eerie melodies pervade the latest offering from Gift Horse. With the band's latest demo, Gift Horse shows it's not a one-trick pony. The beauty of Gift Horse is not so much the music created, but the atmosphere the band swallows you in. Prepare to be transfixed in an aural array of psychedelic grunge and indie rock.

Effervescent electronic pop is what springs forth from Spring Tigers. A mix of energetic and sometimes frenetic melodies with "ooo-wah" choruses over upbeat synths form the basis of their sound. But don't be fooled by Spring Tigers' light-hearted approach; with influences as diverse as XTC and Boards of Canada, the band has more to offer than mirth and magic.

Next to incest, the Dexateens are Alabama's best-kept secret: a five-some that rocks harder than a ton of falling granite. Although the band conspicuously is absent from this year's festivities, charismatic frontman Elliott McPherson is performing a solo set and showcasing his artwork at Ciné on Saturday at 11 p.m.

David Barbe is a puppeteer pulling the melodious strings of some of the best bands in the country. While working at Chase Park Transduction in Athens, Barbe has engineered and produced albums by Son Volt and Drive-By Truckers. Formerly of Sugar, Barbe predominantly plays indie pop.

Hope for Agoldensummer is a local favorite who sounds like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. This Gypsy-like collective has fine-tuned its sound over the years and is made up of consummate professionals playing sexy, sultry music.

This will not be the (nearly) week-long hedonistic pursuit of years past. This stroller-pushing scribe plans on a tame, slow and steady approach to the 2008 installment of AthFest. Sorta'. Friday night will require the services of a babysitter because the little one, despite a very cool decibel reducing headset, is not ready for Dark Meat outside, after dark. I think I am. After that, the long walk to Nuçi's Space to see The Winter Sounds will happen only if Flicker Theatre proves to be less uncomfortable than a circus-clown car. If nostalgia beats enochlophobia I'll smile (and cry) through Claire and Bain's Maple Yum Yum reunion set.

After filling out a father-of-the-year application Saturday morning to the sounds of Pam Blanchard and the Sunny-Side Up Band and keeping the beat with The Rhythm Hut Drum Circle in the KidsFest corner, we'll try to track down the Righteous Juice dude or cop a few free energy drinks assuming either or both beverage brokers are on site again this year.

Former Athenian Count Kellam needs to come home. Until then, we're forced to accept performances too few and too far between. Walk to Farm 255 and catch this midnight set. You can sleep when you're dead they say, so at 1 a.m. separate your eyelids with toothpicks and witness Don Chambers + GOAT casting foreboding shadows on the Georgia Theatre walls.

Spend Sunday with your family. Hopefully you are kin to Sleepy Horses main man Nic Goodson or one of the musicians in Dubconscious. If not, kidnap your loved ones to close out the festival - and be home in time for "Family Guy."

Few local sweat- and smoke-preserved rock and roll bands have had the staying power of Bloodkin. Fronted by vocalist Daniel Hutchins and guitarist Eric Carter, the current lineup of the group is rounded out by guitarist Eric Martinez, bass-man David Nickel and drummer Aaron Phillips. The addition of second guitarist Martinez adds a fitting foil to Carter's gloriously bent licks, and with singer Hutchins coming off a strong number of shows in support of his second solo release Love Songs for Losers, this should be a "don't miss" for bleary-eyed, after-midnight AthFesters. Also, the complete Bloodkin and Hutchins catalog was recently re-released on iTunes, so now you can obtain 'Kin classics like Creeperweed and Out of State Plates with functioning plastic and the click of a button.

Fiddler David Blackmon's new ensemble combines the traditional folk tunes that Blackmon rosined his earliest bows upon with the longtime Athenian's love for instrumental improvisation. Curley Maple pairs Blackmon with wife and multi-instrumentalist Noel Blackmon, guitarist Christian Lopez and bassist Chris Enghauser. They create a comfortable, back-porch sound that gets warmer and more inviting with each listen. Take a minute to visit the acoustic stage between plugged-in acts and get acquainted with one of the premiere, genuine "folk music" groups in town.

Guitarist/vocalist William Tonks should rightly win an award for his stylistic flexibility, if not his stellar taste in covers. Able to switch gears between NRBQ, Television and self-penned material, Tonks' presence on the guitar and dobro has long been a secret weapon of local groups from Barbara Cue to the Hot Burritos to Six String Drag. Tonks released the solo disc Catch in 2007 and will likely bestow some of its slippery slide licks and unpredictable lyrical turns on those who take in his sets at multiple locations throughout Saturday. The man also damn sure knows how to wear a fancy hat.

If you haven't had a chance to see Athens-by-way-of-New York's finest one-man band, this is a prime opportunity. These days, everyone's looping on their little loop pedals; once you've seen one of these guys, you've seen 'em all. Not Matt Kurz. Kurz does it the old-fashioned way. Witness with your own eyes as our hero plays guitar, drums, bass guitar (with his foot, for crying out loud!) and keyboard all the while howling wild-man laments about the sorry state of our world today. The Matt Kurz One is a must-see event every time.

I'll go ahead and say it: Deaf Judges are probably the best punk band in Athens. Whatever, so they don't play instruments… and they rap. Big deal. You find someone with more energy than these dudes, and I'll eat my vinyl. This collaboration between Old White Woman, the enigmatic Rorshak and Produce Man (pulling double-duty this AthFest in addition to his excellent Delta-blues band Bellyache) has been putting on seismic performances for the last few years and have yet to hit a speed bump. This show sees the group taking a break from working on their debut full-length, so take advantage of the opportunity and get up in the front.

One Man Machine's appearances in Athens are as rare as they are riveting. An old friend of the Louisiana contingency of the Dark Meat/ The Ginger Envelope crowd, Bernard Pearce is an iconoclastic virtuoso who reflects his hometown of New Orleans in myriad ways. Just when you expect him to zig, not only does he zag, he zags hard: into scattered jazz, into woozy experimental drone, into sweet soul singing. This show will be sure to feature a few of his Athens cronies; show up expecting - and willing - to get lost.

Multi-instrumentalist Hank Sullivant left The Whigs right as that local band was getting serious national attention. Though he spent a good amount of time touring stages both big and small and getting a taste of what was to come for his band, he decided to go it alone and focus on his solo project Kuroma, finishing up the studio-heavy debut album Paris in 2007. The result is a lively, intricate collection of expansive pop tunes that comes across a little like Paul McCartney inviting Yes to come jam with Wings. Bringing Kuroma into the live environment is still a new thing for Sullivant, and the handful of shows he's played under this name have all been different.

Madeline Adams and Patrick Carey play the Hull Street Stage Saturday, 7:40 p.m. One of AthFest's better qualities is its ability to put some of our finest musicians in front of audiences who'd otherwise never make it out to the 1 a.m. club shows or even later afterparties. It's perfect for singers like Madeline Adams (who, when she tours, has kept things pretty DIY and out of the club realm) and Patrick Carey (whose band Ginger Envelope, despite releasing a great album with last year's Edible Orchids, pretty much doesn't tour beyond the ACC lines). Two of the town's finest, Adams and Carey both write tender yet wry pop-influenced tunes, heavy on the rustic Southern overtones; Adams has a new full-band album set for release early next year, while The Ginger Envelope already has enough material recorded for at least two more albums. Twenty minutes seem like far too little for so talented a pair, and it's not clear yet whether they're going to be backing one another up, trading off songs or performing together. Both the full bands are playing at Little Kings on Friday night, but this brief Saturday evening pairing should offer something a little out of the ordinary.

It's a pretty disheartening fact that less than, oh, five percent of all the bands in Athens are comprised solely of women. You'd think in a town this creative, there'd be more all-female bands - we've certainly got enough testosterone on any night of the week. That's what makes the debut show of Creepy so interesting. The new four-piece band, whose lady-laden lineup includes Page Campbell of Hope for Agoldensummer and Trish Scurry of Still, Small Voice and the Joyful Noise, makes its first appearance, and reports are that Creepy will delve into some deeply psychedelic noise rock, a category generally populated by dudes, beards and bellies. Will a feminine touch even be apparent? Showing up is the only way of finding out.