UmConscious

The video for this album's title track — a guided tour of Colfax locales such as Casa Bonita — makes it clear that the members of UmConscious (who open for Pepper at the Fox Theatre on Friday, August 16) would rather grin than grimace. But The Avenue isn't a straight-up rap satire. Sure, Johnny L. and Boogie B. specialize in goofy imagery; "Road Rage" rhymes "cocaine" with "Rogaine" and "propane," while the good-naturedly boastful "Every Day" offers an apology to the fellas because "I don't go homo." But the music is dominated by pleasantly hazy, blissed-out stoner grooves of the sort that dominate "That Music" (the last word is pronounced "mu-SICK!"). As for "Trip Old Dillon Inn," it's more hippie-hop than hip-hop, but still a nice place to visit.