“Smersh” (Used 3 times)

A little over a year ago, WFMU featured Smersh -- "NJ's Prolific Legends of the Cassette Underground" -- to coincide with the release of the Smersh Library Sampler -- 15 tracks recorded between 1983 and 1994.

Working out of a Piscataway basement full of seemingly endless musical toys and creative inspiration, beat studio guru Mike Mangino and vocalist Chris Shepard wrote & recorded one song every week dating back to 1979. So this sampler was just scratching the surface of Smersh's tremendous and influential output, which ranged from industrial to pop to electronic to noise and earned them a cult following all over the world.

Mike has recently made some of the Smersh catalog available again through his Mirandette Popular label, along with newer electronic works by artists including The Dirty Outlet and Andrew Mascardi. From the label website: "M-Pop Recordings is a really, really small music label. We're so small we're almost microscopic. Contact us for our latest catalog."

This week, M-Pop announced the newest Smersh compilation is here: We Like To Be Listened includes five tracks that were also part of the Smersh Library Sampler (below) along with 15 more gems culled from Smersh's vast output. A personal favorite is the outtake of "Sweet Little Bishop," a bizarro-world Michael Jackson sorta sick jam which was the first Smersh recording I ever heard (via 7" on Börft), but really every track is a hit and if you like these sounds, you will like listening to We Like To Be Listened.

When Mike Mangino and Chris Shepard started writing music together in the late 1970s, their goal was not to develop a repertoire and play gigs, or even to perform live in front of any audience. Everything they needed was right there in Piscataway NJ: a basement full of musical toys and instruments, novelty space microphones, a TR-606 (the same "Roland" who was listed as a member of Big Black), a SH-09 (Cabaret Voltaire's favorite synth), and -- perhaps most importantly -- a tape recorder. Every Monday night, they'd write a new song from scratch. A couple hours later, the song was recorded, never to be performed again.

By 1981, this dedication to spontanious creativity had already produced countless recordings, and the duo began releasing cassettes as Smersh via their own Atlas King label. A definitive Smersh discography may not even be possible, but this one lists more than 30 Atlas King cassettes. As these tapes traded their way across continents, Smersh developed a devoted following in places far beyond Piscataway, leading to releases on dozens of other labels from across the globe. A 15 song sampler featuring some of the many highlights from Smersh's vast discography, spanning 1983-1993, is now available here at the Free Music Archive.

My obsession with Smersh began relatively recently, when I first heard the song "Sweet Little Bishop" in the WFMU library, off a 7'' released by Sweden's Börft label in 1991 (listen). Then it got stuck in my head for several days straight. My subconscious couldn't remember what it was at first, mixed it up with some bizarre Prince song. But then i remembered that mysterious Smersh 7'' -- the one that stood out amongst the other Börft stuff in the library (Swedish artists like Frak and Enhänta Bödlar, who are also uncategorizable and each worthy of their own post!). I set about tracking down as much info as possible find about Smersh...