Rock Candy

Rogers native Hunter Mack took a novel approach in securing the latest release on his limited edition vinyl label, Gold Robot Records. He wrote Will Oldham a letter. And he included some of cousin (and longtime man on the scene in Fayetteville) John Harmon's poetry. An email correspondence between Mack and Oldham followed and, as Mack says, "without asking or even hinting" Oldham, using his Bonnie Prince Billy handle, put some of Harmon's lyrics to song and agreed to let Mack release them on his imprint. What a coup!

Reached by phone in Oakland yesterday, Mack, who's doing post-doctoral work in mechanical engineering at UC Berkley, said that 300 of the 500 copies of the single are gone. They went on sale on Monday. Better hurry.

This is the ninth release on Gold Robot, which Mack started almost a year and a half ago. Mostly, he's released Bay Area projects from friends. In the coming months, he'll put out a record from a young band from Idaho, an EP from a San Francisco band called Railcars that Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu produced and a six song EP from Lady Genius, a Bay Area pop band that's starting to blow up. 

He says he's committed to limited runs, "because it’s a side project—no one’s making any money—it’s easier to sell 500 of something than 5,000." All his releases thus far, save the BPB record, are also available digitally.

You'll notice, from the caption above, that Mack supplied the artwork for the BPB release. He's currently also got a show in a prominent Oakland Gallery. Check out his work here.

Check also, Macktronic, the mp3 blog Mack's run for years.