Ever since Fergus Linehan took over as director of the Edinburgh International Festival, what have they been up to with that music programme? It's almost as if they think that people are able to like more than one kind of music at a time. It's not that there hadn't been quirky programming before: Jonathan Mills' penultimate festival in 2013 had a notable high point in Ensemble MusikFabrik's celebration of the music of Frank Zappa. But the overriding principle had always been impeccable good taste, reflecting Sir Jonathan's own background as an opera composer. The EIF's musical offerings in 2016 are altogether more eclectic; there's plenty of top-class musicianship in the form of recitals from the Amaryllis and Emerson quartets and George Li; Valery Gergiev conducting Wagner; Mark Padmore and Kristian Bezuidenhout performing Beethoven and Schubert songs and John Eliot Gardiner conducting Bach's epic St Matthew Passion – but there are also stranger, wiggier, more downtown things on the bill.

Here are what we reckon will be some high points – and, before you complain that we haven't included Alan Cumming (whose Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs is on all month at The Hub), the reason is that although we're sure it'll be fabulous, it no longer needs any recommendation from us because it's already sold out:

Karine Polwart: Wind Resistance
The singer-songwriter and storyteller explores bird lore, traditional music and Scottish football in this combination of story and song, directed by Wils Wilson.
Rehearsal Room, Lyceum, 6–21 Aug.

Deep Time
Edinburgh is built over a volcano. Everyone knows it, but people don't usually make it into giant multimedia public art installations. Deep Time is that installation. It's brought to you by 59 Productions, who did the Harmonium Project in last year's festival, and features music from Mogwai, animation and 350 million years of geological history.
Deep Time Arena, 7 Aug.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor
They don't play live that often anymore, so catch Quebec's roaring post-rock pioneers while you can. In keeping with Godspeed's egalitarian principles, this is one of the more reasonably priced gigs in the EIF.
Edinburgh Playhouse, 10 Aug.

Pierre Boulez: A Festival Celebration
Classical music's oldest Young Turk, who died in January, had a long association with the EIF and it's good to see his fiery, protean music on the bill once more. Here, Matthias Pintscher conducts the BBC SSO in works by Berg and Debussy, as well as an extract from Pli selon pli and Mémoriale ("…explosante-fixe…" originel) for flute and ensemble.
Usher Hall, 12 Aug.

Young Fathers
The explosive, Mercury Award-winning trio are the kind of thing it's impossible to imagine being on the EIF bill just a few years ago, but their eclectic, try-anything approach makes them right at home.
The Hub, 14–15 Aug.

Mahler's Ninth Symphony
Daniel Harding conducts the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Mahler's most death-haunted symphony, with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 1, featuring Daniil Trifonov, as a curtain-raiser.
Usher Hall, Fri 19 Aug.

Patricia Petibon and Susan Manoff
There's a definite vein of showbiz in this year's music programme, with (besides Mr Cumming) concerts of standards by baritone Simon Keenlyside and a night of Weimar cabaret from Barry Humphries, but the classiest offering should be this charismatic French soprano singing songs by Satie, Poulenc, Fauré, Hahn, Bernstein, Gershwin and others, accompanied by renowned US pianist Madoff.
The Queen's Hall, Sat 20 Aug.

Mogwai & Mark Cousins: Atomic
Mark Cousins' documentary on life in the age of the atomic bomb has a soundtrack from Glasgow's premier noisemakers Mogwai, and here the band plays it live in accompaniment to Cousins' impressionistic assemble of archive footage.
Edinburgh Playhouse, Sat 27--Sun 28 Aug.

Gurrelieder
Schoenberg's mighty cantata isn't performed very often because of the sheer size of the forces it requires (he had to order bespoke music paper to write it) but in terms of the epic amount of sound it generates, this is up there with Mogwai and Godspeed. Donald Runnicles conducts for the last time as chief conductor of the BBC SSO, with a stellar cast of soloists including Karen Cargill and Thomas Quasthoff.
Usher Hall, Sun 28 Aug.