The cover of the 2012 Trypes album, “Music for Neighbors.”
No band exists in a vacuum, and it’s hard to imagine any band for which that is more obvious than previous 350 Jersey Songs honorees The Feelies, whose members have played with countless other Jersey-based groups over the years. One of those is The Trypes, the title of whose eerily hypnotic song “Belmont Girl Is Mad at Me” refers to Belmont Avenue in the Haledon neighborhood that produced The Feelies and various other associated musicians.
The Trypes actually existed before The Feelies, and evolved into another group, Speed the Plough.
Trypes music is generally more laidback and psychedelic than Feelies music. In 2012, the album Music for Neighbors complied the five songs the band had released in the ’80s, along with other material (including “Belmont Girl Is Mad at Me”). The lineup on the track is Elbrus Kelemet on vocals, Marc Francia on guitar, John Baumgartner on keyboards, Toni Baumgartner on woodwinds, and Feelies singer-songwriter-guitarist Glenn Mercer on percussion.
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday last year. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we are marking the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, for almost a year — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. We started in September 2014, and will keep going until late in the summer.
If you would like to suggest any songs to be included, please let me know in the comments section underneath the video. And if you want to see the entire list, either alphabetically or in the order the songs were selected, click here.
