I'm not surprised that there are two electronic-music festivals this weekend—Decibel Festival (Thurs–Sun Sept 24–27, www.dbfestival.com) and Debacle Fest (Fri–Sat Sept 25–26, www.myspace.com/debaclerecords). "Electronic music" is too big for any single festival to embrace every sub- and micro-genre.

Yet both festivals ably straddle a chasm that persists in electronic music. On one side lurk musicians who graft the template of popular music—four-beat rhythms and phrases as well as consistent tempi, timbral allocation, and dynamic range—to experimental textures. Am I the only one weary of hearing a great intro that melds, for example, croaking frogs, a three-note viola melody, kids yelling on a distant playground, and a minor-key synth chord for 30, 60, or 90 seconds only to hear it all dissipate as the routine of clocklike beats takes hold?

Others makers of electronic music fight to sculpt every second of sound as Pierre Henry, Stockhausen, and other pioneers did in the 1950s, trying to reinvent or at least explore the underpinnings of music. Indeed, both festivals have much to offer fans of the avant. Most notably, Decibel presents Sawako (Sun Sept 27), who congeals samples and digital grit into enigmatic ambiences as part of Optical, a sound and video showcase; and Kim Cascone (Sat Sept 26), who brings his masterly integration of field recordings and electroacoustics to the Olympic Sculpture Park. Debacle Fest offers the shimmering drones of KRGA, Mood Organ, and the scabrous distortion of Physical Demon (Fri Sept 25) as well as Red Squirrels, the perverted plunderphonics of Broken Penis Orchestra, LA Lungs, and Eric Ostrowski's post-Noggin project Chaostic Magic (Sat Sept 26).

Also this weekend, Steve Peters celebrates his 50th birthday with a concert (Sat Sept 26, Chapel Performance Space, 8 pm, $5–$15 suggested donation with a free CD). Just about everyone connected to experimental music in Seattle knows Peters, including yours truly (I sporadically perform with him and a half-dozen other rotating members in the Seattle Phonographers Union or SPU).

Usually seen running perhaps the best venue for experimental music in town—the Chapel Performance Space—Peters remains underrated as composer and installation artist. His Webster Cycles, written "for any combination of wind instruments or voices," ranks with Steve Reich's Piano Phase, Philip Glass's Two Pages, and other trance-classics of minimalism. Trombonist Stuart Dempster leads a small cadre of brass players to perform the sacramental Cycles, which should sound lovely inside the Chapel: Imagine drifting through an ocean-sized harbor ringed by distant foghorns.

In addition, pianist Robin Holcomb, Gamelan Pacifica, and several sound artists affiliated with the SPU perform other pieces by Peters, including the regal Planctus for gamelan and the solo piano miniature "Paris, Once."