I have a confession to make: I always think I dislike Slightly Stoopid.

Their music isn't really my style. And the name doesn't help.

But then I listen. And I often remember that while I don't love this long-running San Diego band, I don't hate 'em, either.

That's what happened when I saw them live in early 2010. And it happened again earlier this week when I listened to Stoopid's latest record, “Top of the World."

At 21 tracks, the band's seventh album is too long by at least a third. But before you tire of it, you might notice that Slightly Stoopid is a pretty skilled septet that adeptly explores the intersections of pop, rock, reggae and otherworldly dub. Its members know how to dig into a laid-back groove and ride it till your eyelids are heavy, and that's something many bands of this style don't really know how to do.

“Top of the World" features an all-star collection of guests, including reggae legends Barrington Levy and Don Carlos, funk-jam utility man Karl Denson, G. Love, Angelo Moore of Fishbone, and more. And it's proof that Slightly Stoopid — famously discovered by Sublime's Bradley Nowell — has grown from a pastiche of that band into a group with deep roots in the right places.