It's a very festive time of year. Along with Halloween rapidly approaching - and the slew of other holidays marked by the latter part of the year - there are also some important show dates to cram in between your full celebratory schedule.

One falls on Oct. 26, the Saturday before Halloween, when The Hive Dwellers, Lovers Without Borders and Lois will make appearances at Northern in Olympia.

Lovers Without Borders, featuring Karl Blau, Allen Peril and Jessica Bonin, will celebrate the release of its new 7-inch record, which came out earlier this year. The grooves of this four-song vinyl are filled with the band's nostalgic, poppy original music as well as an anticipated Lois Maffeo cover. In the midst of a string of shows from Seattle to Portland, this great local group will help Olympia have its turn to pre-funk for Halloween.

The Hive Dwellers, native to our great state's capital city, will also join the bill. What began in 2009 has become a popular musical project with three official releases under its belt. Its first release, Hewn From the Wilderness, is a full-length album that sets the tone of the band with 11 groovin' pop tunes that have an undeniably vintage appeal. Though not full length, the band's sophomore and junior releases, Lynch the Swan and Get In, respectively, are equally worth checking out. This is my first exposure to the local group, but I'm already anticipating its appearance to make my Halloween week that much better.

Lois Maffeo, though seemingly elusive on the web, promises to be a great addition to the bill. Seeing as Lovers Without Borders covers Maffeo, I'm already interested in hearing the original.

This is but one of the many upcoming shows that can help you enjoy this special time of year. It seems as if the colder it gets, the more we flock into small spaces around portable heaters to listen to great Northwest music.

Northern and other South Sound venues are in full swing, and I will do my best to cover all the bases.

LOIS, w/ the Hive Dwellers and Lovers Without Borders, 8 p.m., Northern, 414 ½ Legion Way, Olympia, $6, olympiaallages.org