HOLIDAY MAYHEM It seems like everyone is throwing a holiday party this year. This one for PS 122, though, promises to be the crown jewel of them all. It's at the notoriously rambunctious Mehanata aka The Bulgarian Bar, and they've enlisted the services of the fine DJ -- one who's largely responsible for said notorious rambunctiousness -- Joro Boro. Expect gangster rap and big, Balkan brass from him. And with all the downtown performers, pasties-wearing burlesque ladies and other characters that call PS122 their artistic home, the crowd is going to be absolutely bananas. 

Mehanata //113 Ludlow St, Manhattan // 8p // $10 in advance, likely more at the door // more info // directions

CLIMB UP AND GET DOWN We're partial to parties where you can bring your kids -- and not because we have them. (We don't yet.) A real party where there's good music and where parents are invited to bring their youngsters feels all-inclusive to us, like a back-yard barbecue or something. Tonight the Treehouse fellows are throwing such a jam at Littlefield, and their guests are Professor Genius and Todd Sines, two studio wizzes whose music runs the gamut from spacey music for Spanish beaches to harder fare for dark Detroit winters, two things we think kids should know about at a very young age.

Littlefield // 622 Degraw St, Brooklyn // 8p // free // more info // directions

INSANE IN THE BRAIN A few years back, we were all about The Epochs, a young band that made great music, seemed set to break through, but in the end met the same music business beasts that have done away with so many others. So when we heard the brothers that led the band, Ryan and Hays Holladay, were working on a new project called Bluebrain, it made us happy. And now that we've heard the music, we are as optimistic as we ever were before about their future. They're master musicians, songwriters and producers, and someday soon, they'll have their day. And if you go tonight, you'll be able to say you saw the first show they ever played in New York City.

Monkey Town // 58 N 3rd St, Brooklyn // 8p // free with a $10 minimum // more info // directions

EXPRESSING HIMSELF Lee Fields is a veteran of the soul, funk and R&B scene. Releasing records from 1973 to this day, he's rarely veered from the path of a classic, organic sound that gains him regular comparisons to James Brown. But while JB was always a champion of the deep, long, charging groove, Fields' real strength was and is the soul ballad, perfectly exemplified by his recent singles, Honey Dove and My World, both of which are up on his myspace page. He's playing a live show tonight with his band, The Expressions, at Southpaw.

Southpaw // 125 5th Ave, Brooklyn // 9p // $15 // directions

IN LOAF AGAIN Yes, we know it was a bad name, but Archers of Loaf was a great band, and if you grew up in North Carolina and were an indie rock fan like Justin, they were basically considered gods. So whenever we get a chance to relive even a modicum of this moment (the last song at their last ever show, where we were lucky enough to be in the audience), we do it. Eric Bachmann, the former frontman of the band, is playing tonight at The Mercury Lounge, and he's as fine a songwriter today as he ever was then.

Mercury Lounge // 217 E Houston St, Manhattan // 10.30p // $12 // more info // directions
 

I'LL BE BACH In the early 1700s, Bach delivered a set of six concertos to a less than refined nobleman, who upon receiving them, put them in storage where they remained until his death. About a hundred years later, someone found them and realized, of course, that they were brilliant. The Brandenburg Concertos, as they're now known, are considered the finest of the Baroque period, and tonight at Symphony Space, they'll be performed in their entirety.

Symphony Space // 2537 Broadway, Manhattan // 7p // $35 in advance or $40 day of show // more info // directions

DON'T PANIC A Town Called Panic is a stop-motion animation film about a toy cowboy, a toy Indian and a piano-playing toy horse. Nuff said.

Film Forum // 209 W Houston St, Manhattan // 1p, 2.40p, 4.15p, 6p, 8p, 10p // $12 // more info // directions