Not many singer-songwriters can channel jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald without coming across as retro, but Emma Lee has a knack for doing exactly that. The Toronto-based crooner is stopping off in Calgary twice in the next two months — once at Dickens Pub on Friday, April 3, and then again at Knox United Church on May 2. While the Knox show has the edge in terms of the sheer beauty of the venue, Dickens has its own advantages — namely a liquor licence, always helpful when you’re hearing the sounds of heartbreak.

Things get considerably more upbeat on Saturday, April 4, when East Coast popsters Hey Rosetta! hit The Den. You know a band is energetic when they insist on putting an exclamation mark in their name, although this particular band of Newfies knows how to get melancholy, too. Vancouver folkie Dan Mangan will also be on hand, and he’s won me over by the mere fact that he has songs about robots. Yes, it’s a metaphor, but I’m still a sucker for robots.

On the local front, Calgary’s only accordion-led indie rockers, The Appleman Collective, will be at The Marquee Room on Saturday. Klez-maniacs The Plaid Tongued Devils will be there, too — may as well get your monthly accordion quota out of the way early. According to Appleman’s Anthony Appleby, “It’s gonna be a veritable den of accordion sin with these Apples and Devils in one room” — so expect some terrible biblical puns, too.

Rounding off the week, Wednesday, April 8 will feature a trifecta of rockin’ gigs. The Marquee Room will host the return of Sebastian Grainger and the Mountain, the new rock combo by the former Death From Above 1979 drummer. Broken City is offering up a free set from San Francisco’s sorta-psychedelic Sleepy Sun — being properly out of your head is recommended for this one. And for the retro-minded, second-wave ska spearheads The English Beat will skank the night away at Gateway. There’s probably a “Mirror in the Bathroom” joke here somewhere, but I’ll leave that for the readers to figure out.