Dilated Peoples

Three years in the making, Built from Scratch (Loud), the long-delayed and eagerly awaited second album by NYC's premier turntablist outfit, the X-ecutioners, finally has a release date. With guest spots from a diverse cast of characters, including Dan the Automator, neo-metalurgists Linkin Park, the Tom Tom Club, Everlast, Inspectah Deck, Kool G Rap, and the late Big Pun, the disc is set for release on January 29. In the meantime, the group are on a brief promo tour that makes its only area stop at the Asylum (413-739-7900) in Springfield on Saturday. And if you missed the phenomenal indie hip-hop pioneers Dilated Peoples at the House of Blues in Cambridge on Wednesday November 21, there's still time to catch them at the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on Friday and at Toad's Place (203-624-8623) in New Haven on Tuesday.

At this juncture, the Florida metal band Cold -- another Fred Durst discovery -- are perhaps best known as the group whose label paid a rumored six-figure sum to get them added to a recent Weezer tour, whereupon they found themselves booed off the stage almost every night. So they departed to headline their own jaunt with industro-metal dudes Dope. They're at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on Saturday, the Webster Theater (860-525-5553) in Hartford on Tuesday, and at Axis (617-423-NEXT) in Boston next Saturday, December 1. Eighties metal standard bearers Ratt seemed primed for a renaissance a couple years back when they made a pretty fine go of it opening for Poison at summer sheds. Then singer Stephen Pearcy departed for solo gigs, and the band now trudge on with former Love/Hate singer Jizzy Pearl at the helm and John Corabi -- who knows Jizzy's pain, having briefly subbed for Vince Neil in Mötley Crüe -- on guitar. They're at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Central Square on Monday; at the Asylum (207-772-8274) in Portland on Tuesday; at Area 22 (401-848-0077) in Newport on Wednesday; at the Webster Theater next Friday, November 30; and at Chantilly's (603-625-0012) in Manchester next Sunday, December 2.

This week in "Jews You Can Use," our Osama-baiting holiday focus on the Chosen People: novelist and NPR host Ellen Kushner and klezmer kids Shirim kick off a tour of their acclaimed Hanukkah staple, The Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer Nutcracker, on Sunday at AS220 (401-831-9327) in Providence; next stop is the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center (617-965-5226) in Newton the following Saturday and Sunday. Oh and famous ex-Jew Robert Allen Zimmerman plays the Cumberland County Civic Center (207-775-3458) in Portland on Friday and the FleetCenter (617-931-2000) in Boston on Saturday.