Winnipeg’s Mahogany Frog make a sound that’s alternately described as jazz rock, prog or straight-up weird. Drawing on everything from the tiki-lounge sounds of the ’50s to fuzzed-up rock and Zappa-esque oddness, they’re pretty much unclassifiable. They’re also pretty much undeniable, especially in a live setting. Virtually always on the road, they’ll be hitting up Broken City this Thursday, April 16. Slightly more straightforward prog rockers The Summerlad are also on the bill — they’re getting ever-closer to releasing a followup to their 2007 opus, City of Noise, so expect plenty of new material. Psychic Pollution, the latest project from Jzero Schuurman of Grandfather Fire, Lucid 44, The Lonely Hunters and, well, lots of other Calgary bands, rounds out the night. No one gets any real work done on Fridays, anyway, so you may as well indulge in this one.

Friday, April 17 features a pair of tempting shows. Edmonton’s marching band of rock, The Wet Secrets, are once again plying their usual brand of debauched pop, this time at MacEwan Hall. The odd thing is, no matter how many times they come through town, their stomp-along tunes never get old.

Meanwhile, Saskatoon folk-rockers The Deep Dark Woods will be at the Ironwood with like-minded Edmontonians, The Wheat Pool. Expect a few dirges mixed in with the more upbeat ditties — depression and alt-country do go hand in hand, after all.

There’s nothing depressing about East Coast rockers The Darcys. Self-proclaimed Victorian lit-lovers and beard aficionados, the band’s esoteric qualities thankfully don’t complicate their music — a blend of synth-laden pop and grounded rockers that could sit comfortably alongside Canadian mainstays like The Dears and The Constantines without ever sounding derivative of either. They’ll join local rockers The Grim Beat on Monday, April 20 at Vern’s.

To round off the week on a completely different note, Côte d'Ivoire-based singer Dobet Gnahore will be at the Jack Singer Concert Hall on Tuesday, April 21. With a take on Afrobeat that’s both upbeat and surprisingly subtle, relying as much on acoustic licks as danceable polyrhythms, her performance is a must-see for anyone even vaguely interested in world music.