The next time someone tells you there’s nothing to do in Calgary, slap them in the face. Honestly, this week is ridiculous.

Starting things off, Rae Spoon and Geoff Berner will be at Local 522 this Friday, February 5. For journalists, the hook with Rae Spoon is that he’s one of only a handful of transgendered country singers in the world. For music fans, the hook is that he writes sparse but powerful songs and performs them with a rare conviction. Berner, meanwhile, is out to prove that klezmer is alive, well and more than a novelty — accordions and art are not mutually exclusive.

Friday also sees the Epcor Centre celebrating Black History Month with The Nathaniel Dett Chorale. The group is Canada’s first choral group dedicated to Afrocentric music, so expect bits of jazz, soul, gospel and more, from a chorus of 21 classically trained singers.

On to Saturday, February 6, when HEALTH will play the first of two back-to-back shows at Broken City. Saturday’s concert will feature local oddballs Friendo, while Sunday sees Foonyap and the Roar perform its wonderfully chaotic song cycle. Also, be sure to check out our interview with HEALTH at ffwdweekly.com.

As well, acclaimed folkie Dan Mangan makes his way to SAIT’s Gateway on Saturday. I have a sneaking suspicion that his Nice, Nice, Very Nice will be getting more attention come Juno Awards season — anyone who likes robots and Kurt Vonnegut deserves a bit of notice.

On Sunday, February 7, Raekwon hits up The Distillery. Last year saw the Wu-Tanger release the sequel to his 15-year-old solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, and impossibly enough, it’s actually managed to live up to the original. In other words, this is a prime time to check him out.

Then, Monday sees Canadian post-rock institution Do Make Say Think and its conceptual jazz offshoot The Happiness Project at the Republik. Without using up too many of the limited words left in this column, we’ll just say that blissful and hypnotic are appropriate adjectives.

Rounding off the week, Thursday, February 11 holds two options: The Ironwood will host spoken-word piano-blues troubadour C.R. Avery, whose modern Tom Waits shtick is positively electric live, and Broken City has provincial ex-pats The Rural Alberta Advantage with Wooden Sky and Great Bloomers. The Advantage and co. are back at Broken City the next day, but that show’s sold out, so it likely won’t make your decision any easier.