SOCALLED: This Jewish DJ from Montreal discovered klezmer while crate digging; since then his sampling has become a key ingredient in the music of klez modernist David Krakauer. But Socalled's own recordings retain a much stronger hip-hop focus; his tracks combine elaborate samples of Yiddish music and borscht belt comedy with live instrumentation (lots of New York klezmer stars turn up) and vocals from the likes of Killah Priest and C-Rayz Walz (who guests on the forthcoming Ghettoblaster). HipHopKhasene (Piranha, 2003), a collaboration with Oi Va Voi violinist Sophie Solomon, is a musical adaptation of a traditional Jewish wedding, and last year's The Socalled Seder: A Hip-Hop Haggadah (JDub) sets the Passover ceremony to breakbeats. On paper it screams novelty, but Socalled's musicality, structural rigor, and skillful production make it all work. He performs with headliners Golem as part of the traveling Hanukkah party called Jewltide.
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10 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $15, $12 in advance.

--Peter Margasak