Rock and pop music are fun, but nothing can fire up a party as much as Rock’n’Roll, so if you are back from a quiet Thanksgiving holiday and feel like partying on a Monday night, you may want to head to the Cake Shop, where rockabillers Shiro & The Raw Dogs will be brginging the sound off the rebellious late ’50s. Active since 2013, the group has two singles under their belt. This year’s "My Baby’s Bad" is propelled by frantic, borderline tribal percussions and an incendiary combination of electric guitars and vocals.

Get hyped, San Fernando Valley. Your city rocks. Your people rock. And to show you just how much, the lovely birds at Wake Up, San Fernando Valley collective are throwing a fest that’ll put you on the map, more so than HAIM or System of a Down did.

WSFV -IV- (wait, the fourth?) celebrates homegrown talents from the deep San Fernando Valley at the longstanding White Oak. Over a dozen local bands are billed for your 818 pleasures, including Fever The Ghost, R!OT, and The Unending Thread. Art vendors, food trucks and more, ya heard?

It goes down on a spoopy December 13th. Expect this to be a packed show; wear your Sunday suits, or whatever. – Ryan Mo

Last week, Boston quartet Courage Cloak released "Danse Macabre" (streaming below), the blistering third song off its forthcoming seven-track album. Starting with plaintive drums that quickly give way to guttural vocals and chugging basslines, the metal-girded cut emits a surprising sweetness despite its sonic and thematic heaviness. The fittingly-titled song does, in fact, mine such grave ideas as ultimate doom but, perhaps unlike straight metal tracks, lets in at least a little hope for redemption. Courage Cloak plays at O’Brien’s Pub in Allston, MA on 12.9. – Zach Weg 

With the exception of TV on the Radio and a few other artists, soul musicians have taken longer than the indie ones to update their genre’s sound to the new creative possibilities opened by the bedroom studio technology. This is probably due to the fact that soul artists are for the most part extraneous to the DIY ethos that’s been feeding indie rock since the punk revolution. This year, NYC duo Lewis Del Mar has been making up some time in this regard, releasing three noteworthy, self-produced singles that soon found their way on the top of music aggregators, gathering hundreds of thousand of plays in less than 6 months. Blending soulful vocals with imaginative, dark arrangements, the band flirts with indie and industrial, forging a sound that’s at once imaginative and accessible, and featuring a mid tempo inclination that allows space for both vocals and creative programming to coexist. Their latest single "Waves" (we blogged about it here) was released a month ago and it’s already their most popular to date. Check out their first single "Loud(y)" and don’t miss their show headlining Rough Trade on December 2nd – a gig they earned by selling Mercury Lounge during their debut show in September.

On the weekend of November 22nd, Cameo Gallery, one of the last beloved venues still kicking in Williamsburg post its DIY heyday, gave us a last hurrah. Since 2009 the multi-floored venue and bar has been host to numerous favorite dance parties, indie rock and electronic bands, DJs, make outs, comedy shows — they even fit a few modest demon dimensions in those restrooms. Its stages were notable in the beginning narratives of bands such as Neon Indian, Beach Fossils, Sharon Van Etten, and The War On Drugs. This writer was glad to catch the penultimate show last Friday with a lineup including many local talents: Monograms, Little Racer and SoftSpot opening for Eternal Summers, and a later set by The Juan MacLean. The experience was as dancy, sweaty, and boozy as one could expect. All the acts made for a fantastic show, but in my personal account, Brooklyn’s quartet SoftSpot stole the night.

It wasn’t merely about enjoying the sound, or even getting fixed on lyrics as fabrics fix on burs—It is an intimate thing to watch a woman cast spells, and lead singer Sarah Kinlaw does this in front of everyone gathered. This is most stirring to witness in person, as the power might start in her voice but is controlled as if attached to strings on her expressive hands. SoftSpot is a synthesis of eerie dream-rock with modern dance, and just played one of the most refreshing live sets I’ve seen in a while. A performer caught in a spell of that sort encourages those in the audience itself to follow and ease their steps as into a body of water. Those who desire to, become places for lightening to travel.

At the end of the night, the bright, multicolored display dangling on the ceiling over all of us suddenly seemed in its small way iconic, like the clouds attached to every memory of Glasslands. We wish you adieu Cameo, thanks for all the good times! – Leora Mandel

We added this song to The Deli’s playlist of Best songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!