Sin Ropas

Sometimes the sheer gravity of excess talent can be the seed of a band's disintegration. When this happens it's sometimes a boon for fans, leaving them with two or more new groups to enjoy. Chicago's Red Red Meat was such a band, making recordings of such emotional complexity that it often takes repeated spins, coupled with the ongoing admonitions of the already converted for their brilliance to sink in. After the disappointing reception of their 1997 Sub Pop release, There's a Star Above the Manger Tonight and the tension of competing musical ideas, Red Red Meat took a time out, or, as frontman Tim Rutili said about the split after There's a Star Above the Manger Tonight, "God made us stop for a few years after we made this." Enter Sin Ropas, the project of Tim Hurley, Red Red Meat bass player and occasional electronic sound guru for Califone. With help from Danni Iosello on drums and sundry percussive implements and Noel Kupersmith (Brokeback, Chicago Underground Duo) on acoustic bass, Sin Ropas' first release Three Cherries will be recognizable to R.R.M. fans. That said, this is not a repackaging of old ideas. Banjo's and machine sounds help Sin Ropas succeed at creating a sound that is at once deeply traditional and uncannily futuristic. In case your high school Spanish has withered like a vestigial tail, Sin Ropas translates as "Without Clothes." So there's that.