Once again, Calgary’s clubs are refusing to make things easy for local concertgoers. Rather than hosting just one or two decent shows, they’ve decided to present the city with a wide range of options. Damn them, eh?

Friday, September 4 is a particularly tough one. Mint Records recording artists Immaculate Machine (whose members pull double-duty in The New Pornographers) will be at Broken City that night, and their upbeat pop would be plenty tempting on its own. When you add Lightning Dust to the bill, though, things become doubly irresistible. Featuring two members of the Black Mountain army, Lightning Dust’s lightly stoned folk-pop should be a perfect complement to the Machine. (Check out our review with Lightning Dust’s Amber Webber at ffwdweekly.com.)

Rockers who prefer Webber’s day-job in Black Mountain might want to head to The Den instead, though. British rockers Band of Skulls will be there, playing songs from their brand-new debut album, the exceedingly creepily titled Baby Darling Doll Face Honey. For newcomers they have a surprisingly well-developed sound, mixing classic rock riffage with Bends-era ballads and a general sense that they couldn’t give two shits about what the notoriously fickle British music press might think. (Oddly enough, you can check out an interview with them at ffwdweekly.com, too.)

Or, you could always head to Flames Central instead to catch Toronto electro-rockers MSTRKRFT. They’re still touring strong on the back of their second album, Fist of God — which, in this writer’s opinion, is a much better album than their lacklustre debut.

There’s more to the weekend than just Friday, of course. Given that it’s a long weekend, feel free to kick back on Saturday, because you’ll need all your energy for another pair of parties on Sunday, September 6. On the local front, Western Canadian Music Awards nominees Dragon Fli Empire are putting on a bash at Local 522, along with fellow locals Blist and Vancouver’s Moka Only (another WCMA nominee). If you can drag yourself away, Norwegian electro-rock duo Datarock will be at Broken City, filling the club with its ’80s-influenced good times. Also along for the ride, London pop savant Esser. You may as well ease into Labour Day with a healthy dose of joy.