With eight crazy nights just around the corner, what better way to enjoy the festivities than with a little music? And with the plethora of new sounds out there waiting to be heard, you can have a different soundtrack for each candle-lighting celebration — from the latest Israeli pop and fusion, avant-garde jazz and lullabies, to klezmer, folk, and even heavy metal (straight from Israel, in fact). So here are a few of the more recent releases to enjoy while you spin your dreidel.

For those who want a traditional holiday feel, you can't go wrong with The Joel Rubin Ensemble's Midnight Prayer, a gorgeous instrumental album that has some of the most stirring playing on any klezmer outing in some time. The dozen tunes range from the melancholy to the inebriated, but do so with an authentic tone that transcends the usual revival feel conveyed by many of today's klezmer groups. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to dance with those old-time spirits.

Looking for something for the smallest kinderlach? Try Lilah Tov — Jewish Lullabies, a newly recorded collection of familiar and favorite melodies, from "My Yiddishe Mama" and "Maoz Tsur" to "Oseh Shalom" and "Ein Keloheinu." These are more than pleasant renditions, because they nicely mix chamber and pop music to create a very relaxed mood. And that's just what you want to calm down those little ones.

Thought you heard it all? Not until you've listened to Israel Unleashed — The Very Best Metal and Rock from The Holy Land, a 15-track assortment that will help drive away the dybbuks. The songs are sung in perfect English, so metal fans should appreciate Abed, Noble Brats, and Seven Percent Mind Usage, to name a few of the heavy acts on this collection from the Jewish Music Group label. Anyone who enjoys a mix of grunge and arena rock should also check out Distorted, Manga, or Behind The Sun, all of which have included some memorable numbers here.

If your taste leans more toward jazz, then check out Alex Kontrovich, a clarinetist and alto saxophonist who leads a four-piece group on Deep Minor. He veers between you-have-to-stop-and-take-notice avant garde and traditional klezmer while mixing in touches of New Orleans and Afro-Cuban (or Afro-Jewban, as he calls it) influences. This is a particularly good listen and shows off Kontrovich's talent not only as a musician but as a composer and bandleader as well.

When the middle of the road is where you want to be, try Dudu Fisher's Standing Where You Are. His first new studio album in several years includes well-known pop songs, such as Boz Scaggs' "We're All Alone" and Leon Russell's "A Song for You." Dudu, however, does them in what used to be called adult-oriented sounds — the most mellow versions you're likely to come across. Anyone who likes this serene approach will also enjoy another recently released Dudu collection called Showstoppers, which packages several of his covers of famous tunes from such Broadway shows as Les Miserables, La Cage aux Folles, and Phantom of the Opera.

Want to know what Israelis may be listening to? Then lend an ear to the latest collection from Putumayo, which specializes in releasing indigenous music from countries and cultures around the world. Their newest effort is Israel, which gathers 12 songs from a diverse set of musicians and singers. The emphasis here is on mellow and accessible, but the musical styles vary greatly. Zafa captures the ancient sounds of the Jews of Yemen and Etti Ankri offers up Middle Eastern-flavored folk-pop; the hard-rocking Moshav Band, which makes its home in Los Angeles, has attracted substantial stateside notice. Moshe Ben-Ari plays infectious pop, and Sheva fuses Middle Eastern modalities and a reggae beat. For those curious to hear Arabic pop, Amal Murkus, a Palestinian Christian, sings a soothing track about an optimistic future. The closer is the adventurous Idan Raichel Project, a popular and experimental unit that smartly blends a variety of cultural sounds.

Another recent release featuring Israeli sounds is The Adamai Ensemble, featuring Shlomo Gronich and Lubna Salame, a Jew and an Arab who are both well-known performers. They have lent their talents to this specially formed group that uses music to further an agenda of peace and coexistence. There are only four tracks here, and three are devoted to getting their message out. The last track, an instrumental called "Capture the Moment," is perhaps the best achievement, as the musicians really take off and create a moving sonic space in which the possibilities can be imagined.

If you like inspirational folk — the kind that's made Debbie Freidman a favorite in synagogues across the United States — then give a listen to Linda Hirschhorn. She takes a similar approach to her music, blending contemporary folk, a little Middle Eastern instrumentation, straight-ahead pop, a Hopi chant, and, of course, traditional liturgy. Hirschhorn is blessed with a lovely voice and a good ear for choosing the right song to convey the proper mood.

And finally, if you enjoy wonderful Yiddish stories set to a mix of contemporary pop and Broadway-like show tunes, try A Night in the Old Marketplace, a concept album based on the 1907 I.L. Peretz ghost story. The music was created especially by Frank London, the imaginative trumpeter best known for his work with The Klezmatics, and Glen Berger, who wrote the stunning lyrics for this fabulous project. While it may help to be familiar with Peretz or other writers of the genre, you can easily enjoy this engrossing performance by simply closing your eyes and letting the sounds take you back across the centuries to the old country, where dybbuks roamed free. The mood here is perfect for an enchanted evening with strange creatures, and the storyline, as articulated by Berger, brings to life the travails of watching out for the evil eye.