Feelies offshoot The Trypes celebrating 40th anniversary with ‘Music for Neighbors’ reissue (stream it)

Judy Moreno

When The Feelies went on hiatus after the release of their 1980 debut album Crazy Rhythms, the members played together in a few splinter projects, including Yung Wu, The Willies and The Trypes. The latter featured original Feelies members Glenn Mercer and Bill Million, soon-to-be Feelies members Brenda Sauter and Stanley Demeski, plus Speed the Plough's Elbrus Kelemet, John Baumgartner, Marc Francia, and Toni Paruta. The Feelies' style of Velvet Underground-descended rock is still evident, but The Trypes added orchestration and other elements to make them distinctive.

The Trypes only put out one EP, 1984's The Explorers Hold, but recorded lots of other songs that eventually saw the light of day on 2012 compilation Music For Neighbors, which added an over a dozen more songs to the EP's original four.

In celebration of The Trypes' 40th anniversary, Pravda Music is reissuing Music for Neighbors -- it's out on CD on March 18, and will be out on gatefold double vinyl later this year. In addition to the four songs from The Explorers Hold, the comp includes three songs from the band’s 1984 showcase at the Bottom Line in New York, two songs recorded by the original Trypes during a 2017 reunion, demos, covers, and more. There are also Bandcamp-only digital bonus tracks.

We've got the premiere of the full album stream Music For Neighbors, and you can listen to that below.

In other news, The Feelies are playing shows this weekend in Fairfield, CT (March 18 at The Warehouse) and Philadelphia (March 19 at World Cafe Live). The Feelies don't really tour and rarely play anywhere beyond the East Coast, so go see them if you're nearby.

pravda records · The Trypes / Music for Neighbors