Slightly Stoopid

Chronchitis

Stoopid/Controlled Substance

(Slightly Stoopid MySpace)

It will come as no real surprise that SoCal veterans, Slightly Stoopid, deliver yet another solid effort with its fifth studio album - Chronchitis.

The album is aptly titled, as this is the most chilled music that founding members, Miles and Kyle, have jammed out since Acoustic Roots. Dropping its punk songs altogether, Slightly Stoopid has taken a more cohesive approach by delivering a stronger reggae, acoustic and dub flavor.

This time round Miles and Kyle evenly split songwriting and vocal delivery duties and it seems gone are the days where they shared vocals on the one track. That’s not so much of an issue especially when for the most part each performs to their vocal strengths. Kyle continues to amaze with his unique hip hop flow, with Above the Clouds and Digital and Miles strengthens his charismatic delivery with highlights like Nobody Knows and the radio-friendly Hold On to the One.

Chronchitis is the first chance touring horn players C-Money (trumpet) and DeLa (saxaphone) have had to contribute to a Slightly Stoopid album. Instead of taking an in your face approach the two wisely follow a more grooving in your back pocket style, with successful results on tracks such as 2am and Baby I Like It.

To assist in the production the band put together the ‘A-team’ of music producers with Mario C (Beastie Boys and Jack Johnson), Paul Leary (Sublime), Miguel (Sublime) and Chris D (G Love) all adding their unique touches to help the band produce its most mature and multi-layered album to date.

As well as recruiting excellent producers Slightly Stoopid has lined up some first-rate guest spots, including long-time friend G Love (Baby I Like It) and Guru from Gangstar (the Otherside). However, it is Angelo Moore from Fishbone that makes the most effective addition when contributing his vocals to the album’s most soulful cut, Ever Really Wanted.

Put simply and in a cheesy manner, if you have to catch an illness this summer, Chronchitis is the one to get. Side effects include a calming and blissful feeling and frequent repeated dosage is highly recommended.

Reviewed by Pilipo