From hip-hop legends to soulful sophomore releases to Kenyan folk, this week is as diverse and as spicy as, well, a hot sauce committee.---

Even though the three members of classic hip-hop outfit, the Beastie Boys, can nearly apply for AARP and get the Senior’s Discount at Denny’s, they’re still putting out fresh, hot rhymes. If you haven’t streamed the explicit version of Hot Sauce Committee, Part 2 that they made available on their website several weeks ago, what are you doing? Check it out, then go buy it for it is this week’s top pick.

The Antlers follow up the critically acclaimed 2009 release Hospice—a thematic album about lead singer Peter Silberman’s dying friend—with a a less-thematic, yet equally listenable effort on Burst Apart. The Booklyn-based trio doesn’t disappoint on their highly anticipated sophomore release. The new album follows Silberman’s transition over a period of his life from dark and dreary to hopeful.

The Northwest isn’t solely full of depressed and angsty rockers. The rock-meets-folk band Fleet Foxes (album cover below) shine on their latest Helplessness Blues. They will tour the U.S. this summer in support, including a stop at Red Butte Garden. Check it out and have your preconceived notions of rainy day-influenced music blown away.

Architecture in Helsinki’s fourth full-length album Moment Bends is a flexible pop consortium that perfectly befits a Spring evening dance party. So...grab it and throw one yourself.

Other notable releases include Blind Boys of Alabama’s gospel harmonies on Take the High Road, Brandi Carlile, aided by the Seattle Symphony, putting out a live album called Live at Benaroya Hall and a group of London, England-based folk musicians getting together with African folk legends from Nairobi, Kenya on an addictive album called Owiny Sigoma Band.