Squirrel, Man!
Original Release Date: 01/26/2963
For those of you with five digits on your paws, the fist has become a symbol of the extreme: of power, of freedom, of revenge. The "fist" for most creatures takes a similar shape, tightly wound, tense with excitement, but with the construction of fur, scales, goo, or whatever substance makes up your mortal form. With revenge on their minds, the members of Squirrel, Man! were out for blood, and their knuckles were just warming up. Where to start? First, their record contract was negotiated with little regard for their compensation, nor for their retainership or rights to their music. Second, 50% of all tour expenses would come out of their pockets, and only 10% of the profits generated would be returned to them. Third, all of their revenue would be bundled with the revenue of other artists and sold on the junk bond market in hopes that they would create infinite dividends that would go, you guessed it, straight to their management. Fourth...well, we could go on and on, dear Audionauts, but the point remains clear: Squirrel, Man! needed a way out of their contract if they were to ever play, or tour, again. Perhaps, they went to the extreme. Perhaps, it was not the best tactic to kidnap their manager and his personal assistant and demand a hefty ransom; and, when that didn't work, rob a series of failing banks in the hopes that they would be able to wash the money at intergalactic casinos. Perhaps...well, we could go on and on, Dear Audionauts, but this second, and more prescient point, was clear: sometimes a fist can say more than words ever could. With gear stolen from their recording studio (technically, it did belong to them), they worked in secret for weeks, emerging briefly to the triple-waning suns of their home planet Ubac. The sessions only produced four songs; the duress of recording and pretending they were not recording took its toll, but what became From Necessity, A Brutal Retort was a direct rallying cry to other artists: do not let these vultures (a scavenging Earth creature) drain you of creativity and essence. Dizzying, thundering synth does not relent across its brief runtime, while cymbals crash in the background like thunder overhead. Song titles like Firebomb Your Face and Smash Until Nothing Remains left little to the imagination, but the passion, the rage, and the revenge are all there. Sadly, while others in the industry learned from Squirrel, Man!'s mistakes, the band did not heed their own advice, trapping themselves in contracts that were too good to be true. While the band did endure (you can find their work at the register of most corporate hot bean water stores), the fury of From Necessity, A Brutal Retort was lost, the spark in the flaming cocktail of other, more important revolutions such as the Golorknack Uprising of 3466 and Poppelia Riots of 4121. Its original intent did little to change the systemic, predatory nature of the music industry, but its symbolism kept the rage aflame for the downtrodden and the underrepresented. While they did not live to see its underground success, the members of Squirrel, Man! would be at the front of the line, fists raised, and ready to punch back.
Side A
Firebomb Your Face
A Brutal Retort
Side B
Smash Until Nothing Remains
Mouthful of Plasma