January is finally here! Filled with a sense of renewal and opportunity by the changing over of the year, Calgary’s artists will finally change out of their sweatpants and get back on the horse this month, giving music lovers a chance to watch their favourite local talent whip those stiff and unused performance muscles back into shape.

On Thursday, January 8, Broken City hosts the debut of The Summerlad’s video for “City of Noise.” The video is full of surreal imagery and high production values. Sounds trippy. Along with the ’Lad, there’ll be a special performance by post-prog trio Gunther and shoegaze rockers Heat Ray.

For a different slice of the musical pie, Matt Gigg & the Intellectuals will smarten up The Marquee Room with pals Bikeland and Jhor Sept that same night. Gigg plays an intriguing style of folk-influenced indie rock with dashes of Neil Young, Jens Lekman and old Folkways recordings. His pop sensibility makes him and his band one to watch in 2009.

Thursday, January 8 through Saturday, January 10, One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo will recruit a substantial handful of local artists for their Midway and Grandstand events at the Epcor Centre. Midway features an unfathomable display of wackiness all evening, from contortionists and fortune tellers to freak show tours, along with a stage featuring music from homegrown acts, curated by art collective the Summerwood Warren.

At 10 p.m. each evening, after the Midway performers finish, the Big Secret Theatre will house the Grandstand shows, a pairing of two prominent Calgary artists for three night of covers, with different bands and different material each night. Thursday features “Bjork and the Instrumentalists,” with Woodpigeon and The Cape May’s Clinton St. John covering the Icelandic eccentric as well as selections of post-rock from the likes of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mogwai, Rachel’s and more. Friday night, The Consonant C will tackle classic selections from the catalogue of Weezer, and Saturday, Jay Crocker and Simon Fisk will offer their interpretations of Tom Waits and The Band.

On Friday, January 16, the Palomino will attempt to contain the relentless fury of Women with Sharp Ends, and I don’t mean bloodthirsty girls with a predilection for scissors. The two post-punk powerhouses will tear up the bar’s basement alongside Edmonton power duo The Famines (featuring members of the Vertical Struts). Women will be globetrotting once more by the end of January, so catch one of the best bands ever to come out of Calgary while you can.

Finally, the Calgary Animated Objects Society will be holding the opening party for their International Festival of Animated Objects on Friday, January 23, with an all-Alberta lineup including The Wet Secrets, Dojo Workhorse and Ghostkeeper. It all goes down at the Palomino, with plenty of animated spectacles lining the walls and colouring the performances. See www.animatedobjects.ca for more on the organization and the festival, which runs until February 1.