Music critics' picks

Start wearing purple now! No, not for Prince. For gypsy punksters Gogol Bordello, cavorting here in their "Forces of Victory Tour 2008." Founder Eugene Hütz, a Chernobyl survivor from Ukraine, formed the group in 1999, though "form" is not the right word for a band that dervishes rap, punk, flamenco, ska and gypsy music into a thing of distinct yet amorphous beauty. "Our musical awareness isn't based on flirtatious moments of musical fusion; we're constantly adding new stuff that compliments our root," Hütz told NPR last year. Skindred opens.

Electric Factory, 421 N. 7th St., 8:30 p.m. tomorrow, $20-$22, all ages, 215-336-2000, 856-338-9000, www.livenation.com.

- Laurie T. Conrad

Like the Beastie Boys (the reference is unavoidable), Bryan Poerner and Rick Mitchell are former hardcore kids who traded their guitars for two turntables and a microphone as Yah Mos Def. Rapping as B. Awesome and Distro, their samples are unique for a hip-hop act (Television, Bikini Kill, Minor Threat), and their subjects range from Philly neighborhoods to sports and punk-scene figures. They must be the only rap group to utter the phrase, "I'm a go read my Combetbus." Tonight's show, the second live-music event at the recently reopened Barbary, doubles as a record-release party for "Excuse Me, This Is Yah Mos Def," their first on My Pal God Records, the label run by WPRB-FM DJ Jon Solomon.

The Barbary, 951 Frankford Ave., 10 tonight, $5, 215-423-8342, myspace.com/thenewbarbary.

- Sara Sherr

The current model of male R&B crooner has embraced the urban swagger of hip-hop, and Trey Songz and J. Holiday lead this new-school pack. Virginia native Songz adeptly walks the line between genres. Holiday is the fresh-faced newcomer. His swagger-filled debut, "Back of My Lac," was an instant success.

Fillmore at the TLA, 334 South St., 8 p.m. Tuesday, $35 advance, $37.50 DOS, 215-336-2000, ticketmaster.com.

- Damon C. Williams

The term "radical Jewish culture" arose in the early 1990s to describe music and art emerging from New York's avant-garde downtown scene that built on the foundation of traditional Jewish art. It's centered in an ongoing, increasingly rich and varied series of recordings on Tzadik, the record label founded by iconoclastic saxophonist John Zorn. He'll bring two projects here in a rare visit for the Ars Nova Workshop-produced Radical Jewish Music Festival.

Sunday afternoon, he'll lead an octet through "The Dreamers," and accompany a series of experimental films; that night, his nine-piece electric Masada will perform. The festival begins on Saturday with Masada Guitars, a six-string duo; Monday will feature the trio of vocalist Ayelet Rose Gottlieb, pianist Anat Fort and clarinetist Michael Winograd; Tuesday, Philadelphia trombonist Daniel Blacksberg will lead his Yiddish Sextet, featuring trumpeter Frank London.

Various venues, tomorrow through Tuesday, $12-$35, info at www.arsnovaworkshop.com.

- Shaun Brady

American composer Elliott Carter (right), whose latest work will be performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra this December on his 100th birthday, has created a rich catalog of distinctive, highly cerebral masterworks. The ambitious Network For New Music ensemble, led by Jan Krzywicki, will pay tribute by performing some of his chamber and solo pieces. Network also commissioned 10 composers to write a "birthday banquet" of piano works to Carter, to be played by Marilyn Nonken and Stephen Gosling. The celebrated list includes Milton Babbitt, Uri Caine, Jeffery Cotton, Alvin Curran, Jeremy Gill, Jennifer Higdon, Jeffrey Mumford, Augusta Read Thomas, Maurice Wright and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Mr. Carter, live long and prosper.

Settlement Music School, 416 Queen St., 3 p.m. Sunday, $20, 215-848-7647, www.networkfornewmusic.org.

- Tom Di Nardo