#mandolinist

[adamrsweet]

I call this picture "Classical Mandolin Player." It features a solo classical mandolin player seated on a chair in the middle of a formal stage setting reminiscent of Carnegie Hall. The player has a beautiful smile, adding to the elegance of the scene. #mandolin #mandolinplayer #classicalmusic #classicalmandolin #soloist #concerthall #audience #stage #carnegiehall #elegance #music #musician

Snag your own copy of Adam Sweet's unique art! 🎨 Choose digital download (watermark optional) or grab it framed. Just DM your pick! 🖼️ See more at http://linktr.ee/adamrsweet. #ArtSale #DigitalArt #CustomDesigns #Illustrations @adamrsweet_

[jeffcbliss]

Nancy Wilson of Heart - Acrisure Arena; Palm Desert, CA (12-28-23). @NancyWilson @officialheart

Photo: Jeff Bliss

[esteemed-excellency]

Rewriting my previous tags because they deserve their own post: Hiram's parabolan base is somewhere in the Edict of Towers.

The mirrors from Is Someone There? and the battlements from A Game of Chess fit perfectly into the overall picture, and the pseudo-medieval aesthetic of the Red Court has the same eerie vibe. The place is isolated and empty so Hiram has plenty of privacy to scheme and conduct research and think about the Chessboard. Ideal lair.

Plus, Hell is just around the corner if the Deviless comes to visit <3

[multifandomhoodies]

if it doesn't have a mandolin or a fiddle or a banjo I DONT WANT IT. also bruce.

[1264doghouse]

1923 meeting of the American Guild of Banjoists, Mandolinists and Guitarists, which was held at the Raleigh Hotel in Washington, DC. On the opening day of the convention, April 22, 1923, the delegates were received at the White House by President Warren G. Harding. Margaret Lichti, Ethel Johnstone, Jimmy “Jazz” Johnstone, C. A. Templeman & Lloyd Loar. Library of Congress.

[krispyweiss]

Old & in the Way? David Grisman is 80 in Dawg Years

It seems like he’s been around forever, but David Grisman is just 80 - in Dawg years.

Born March 23, 1945, Grisman may be old now but he is not - nor has he ever been - in the way.

Primarily a mandolinist, Grisman played on the Grateful Dead’s American Beauty before teaming up with Jerry Garcia in the short-lived but forever-influential bluegrass band Old & in the Way.

After the group dissolved, Grisman devoted himself to his blend of jazz and bluegrass that became known as Dawg Music. And in the 1990s, he reconnected with Garcia for a series of duo album that were the focus of a 2024 retrospective on Grisman’s Acoustic Disc label.

Over the decades, he’s counted Tony Rice, Hazel Dickens, John Sebastian and Tony Emmanuel among his many collaborators on a discography whose sheer count rivals Grisman’s years on the planet.

May both numbers continue to climb.

3/23/25

[sparingiscaring]

A Masterwork and a Muse

Written for the Secret Swap for the @fallenlondonficswap, I had the honor of writing for @violant-apologia! As soon as I saw your preferences, I had a very specific idea in mind - I hope you like it!

Featuring: Correspondence and Grand Devils Word Count: 1981 Content Warning: Body Horror, (Implied) Death

You know what would happen should this inspiration come to a lesser human, but you are different. That is why your Muse has chosen you, is it not? Because you, and you alone, were the one bright mind among the common rabble to understand the story she was singing to you.

You intend to create your own song to sing in return.

The Veteran Privy Counsellor is looking expectantly at you, as he always does when you enter the Palace and declare your intention to start on your latest masterwork. In his hands is a glass of port, a shaky sound to underscore your conversation- not with nerves, as you’ve well learned by now, but with a dangerous thrill. And with that excitement in his voice, he asks exactly what you would expect him to. 

“What’s your next project?”

You are to stage an opera, of course! But not one like that which had seen you banished to the Tomb Colonies- no, an opera of a different sort. The kind of opera the Directing Dramatist and the Comic Composer had been staging in the few theaters renovated in the wake of the fall that had not been overtaken by bohemians- the style of Offenbach in France, with laughter intended as a response, as lovers sang and dancers twirled behind them. You’ve managed to obtain your fair share of stolen scripts and stage directions from Surface runners and bribed Neathy performers in preparation for this glorious moment, especially since the carpet quarrel had broken apart the only troupe performing the likes of this here. 

You had assured your Muse as much, of course. No one present in the Court of the Traitor Empress would dare miss something so unique as this.

 Mad thoughts of forgiveness do not grace your mind. You are to be sent to the Tomb Colonies as soon as the curtain closes on the one-act Opera, of course- and the Counsellor’s mustache twitches in anticipation at the news- but for a much different reason than your last opera. Your inspiration is wholly, or mostly, entirely distinct from that old news. This is to be your new magnum opus. The orchestra will be legendary with the instruments they will play, with the songs their instruments will sing, and the dancers will be a draw all their own. After all, it’s not every day that a troupe of dancing devils should enter Court for the performance of the Empress’s life, with song and dance invading her silent control! 

Weeks of composing, writing, editing. Auditions last well into the next month and last for hours each day, as you hand-pick only the finest of each instrument, the finest of each musician, and fill your orchestra with one of every sound you could ever need. You take no notice of the looks of the participants, even as you hear the murmurs of a rumored Rubbery Piper in your opera following you at a salon. You stifle a laugh- it appears they won’t be prepared for the sound or sight of your Rubbery Mandolinist, then, with the notes like no other they can play. Or your Clay Drummer, who makes the hearts of all who hear him beat with every pounding of his drums, beat and threaten to burst with every percussive beat. Or the Rattus Faber troupe, who could almost rival your dancers with how they dart across the keys in synchronized harmony.

And oh, your dancers.

They are as elegant as your inspiration had said they would be. Every step, every drag, every trailing leg sweeping in a brilliant shape, it is mesmerizing to watch, yellow eyes daring you to trace their pattern. The Dancers need no supervision from you, and need no practice. They know the motions, the movement, the story you intend to tell with every shape they may take, and they are eager to help you bring your masterwork to life. You had originally intended to introduce the Orchestra to the Dancers halfway through practices, for better cohesion, but the display the Devils put on for you settles it; you’ll wait until opening night to bring the musical performers together with the physical. It is easy to wave off the questions, after all- wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise of the main draw now, would we? 

Your leads question you, of course, as any pair of pompous brats who’s artistry is paid for with allowances would. They question the costumes, the sections of stage they are banned from stepping foot on, the shoes- oh, how the Acclaimed Actress seems to be talented at nothing besides endless complaining about the weight of her shoes. She’s not even dancing in the opera, and she complains? No matter- she can deal with the shoes, as long as she remembers her lines and sings her number and stays in her section of the stage. You’ve promised perfection, and your Muse will not allow anything less. She will not ruin your masterwork.

The Orchestra does not disappoint. They are perfect, of course, because you have only selected the best. Those who complain about the costumes your dressmakers and tailors have crafted for them are silenced with a withering glare, as one should be when you glance in their direction, and fight no more on the issue. You’ve taken great care to ensure the outfits should not interfere with their playing, after all. Your Muse would not have it- and it would be counterintuitive to keep the Rubbery Mandolinist from their picks, or the Clay Drummer from his drums, after all. 

The Piper from her Pipe. The Singer from its Song. Traitorous, to separate them. Traitorous.

Traitors.

The opening night, the audience is full. There is not an empty seat in the entire room. You can see the Traitor Empress up in her balcony box, behind the veil that encased her and the Consort, heads bowed and faces blurred. You’d sent an invite to all of her children - that must be the Captivating Princess, standing in the back, the figure inherently drawing your eyes to her and making the hair on the back of your neck rise. She’d been the only one to accept your invite - the rest had declined, as they always did. Your Muse cared not, of course, and you expected the snub. It was a shame, though. More eyes, more eyes on your masterwork, a bigger audience.

The Veteran Privy Counselor ambushes you backstage, with a trivial issue of budget, and one of the Rubbery Mandolinist’s costumes catching on fire, but you wave him off with a wave of the hand and a roll of your eyes, your eyes. Seems a dressmaker had overstated their competency with the stitch pattern you’d provided for the inside of the Mandolinist’s clothing, and had failed you. Had failed your production. Of course this would happen.

Your Muse.

A single Mandolinist missing from the audience wouldn't ruin your opera. Your Orchestra will still sound, will it not? Nothing will be off, to the untrained ears of the audience. Nothing will be off, to the Traitors on the stage. Nothing. Nothing! No one will notice, aside from you. And what was the Mandolinist’s worth, even?

Immense, you know. Immense.

But no more than any others, you’re sure. No more special than the rest of the Orchestra. No more. No more.

The Dancers talk amongst themselves, in costumes provided on their own, and share glances at the Leads. The Acclaimed Actress is complaining again. Again. Her costar stands uselessly to the side, as he always does, nodding at her complaints, nodding at your refusal, nodding like there is nothing more he can do. You have half a mind to strangle him, but the Unassuming Understudy found himself in the Tomb Colonies two days ago, and had yet to make his way back, and you doubt the man standing before you had the brains required to return from the Boatman with any expediency. 

No, for the sake of the show, you must keep him. And the Actress. And you must deal with an Orchestra playing one Mandolinist shy, one man down, one less than its grandeur was at its unsung height. Something pulls a laugh from within you - you’d have to ask your muse if a Mandolinist fell first then, too. 

Your Muse isn’t in the audience. It is almost showtime.

The Veteran Privy Counsellor finds you again, but you ignore him. You ignore him, and the Actress, and the Dancers, and you look to the curtains and think about your Orchestra. The costumes, perfect, sigil-stitched with perfect thread that should just hold out long enough on the flames for this one production. The Mandolinist was unlucky. The Mandolinist was just unlucky. 

Your Muse will be proud, you’re sure. 

You step into the wings as the time comes, and call for the Leads to take their place. You do not have to call for the Dancers to take theirs. You do not have to call for the Orchestra to play their first notes. You do nothing more than step aside, step away, as the curtains rise, and when the Veteran Privy Counsellor corners you moments later, you simply offer him a glass of port, and a smile.

His glass drops when the Acclaimed Actress catches sight of the Orchestra, and screams. Your heart stops - too early, too early, and is there anything you can do? Can you stop it? This was meant to be the climax! The Leads, the Lovers, they weren’t supposed to be screaming until the Traitor Dancers, the rebels they were a part of, were to announcing the beheadings. You’d planned it so well - the audience, standing in for the royals that were never seen, motions to the Traitor Empress, to the Orchestra, to-

You wave him away as the Actor joins in with a sound that could rip flesh from bone, sipping on the deep yellow honey in your own glass as the Traitor Dancers stop in their step, and fill the stage with buzzing. You don’t dare to look - if anything went wrong in the sigil-stitching again, if a misplaced thread set the Rattus Faber troupe into anything but a temporary abomination of insectoid creatures vying for the stolen skin of the Devils, then this would be a failure in every way, in every way, and in every way. Then it would be worth nothing. Your Muse, your Muse-

No, not nothing.

You’d set the mirror aside just before the Dancers arrived. You’d found the linking mirror almost a year ago, a shortcut to your Muse. A direct line to the Parabolan prison where your Muse lay, poised like a scorpion in wait and unable to break from her shackles. You know not what she played, but you could hear the echoes of it in her body, when she invaded your dreams. You understood so little - but a story she told you, a story you kept. 

Traitors. Rebellion. Correspondence.

You had brought her here, to witness it from this mirror. To hear the story she told you, pumping knowledge like poison into your veins. 

You were to give her a better ending to her story. The Ones-Like-Princes, crawling from the Orchestra Pit, and tearing the Traitor Dances into nothing. The Leads, unspared in your frantic rewrites as the Actress complained of the lead to keep her safe from the Correspondence sigils traced into the stage by the Dancers, as she earned her fate with the rest of those who dared to think themselves worthy of overthrowing the Prince’s rule.

You were meant to show her what could still be.

No matter. No matter!

You taste honey on your lips, and see a thousand eyes staring back, see a body poised, poised, see your Muse. 

It’s better this way, isn’t it? She must agree, must understand. It was better this way! Not just a better ending, a better everything! No rebellion to even begin. No chance something so horrible could ever happen again.

She wouldn’t hate you.

She can’t hate you.

She is your Muse, and you have done right by her.

She won't hurt you.

You step into the mirror, as the Veteran Privy Counsellor storms into the corner closet you’d hidden yourself in, and close the curtain on your Masterwork.

[trumpet-trumpet-toot-toot]

Guide to Spencer Krug’s (Many) Projects

Before I start this post, I should mention this was my final project for my Music Appreciation class and I've basically just reformatted the paper for Tumblr. Also I have never used Tumblr before so please bear with me... Thanks, let's get to it now!

Introduction

Spencer Krug is a Canadian musician mainly known as a singer, songwriter, and keyboardist, though he occasionally plays the piano, guitar (both acoustic and electric), synthesizer, accordion, bass, and kick drum.[1] His first instrument was the piano, which he started playing when he was 12.[2] By the age of 15, he already had a drum set, guitar, bass, amps, and an organ in his bedroom. Around that time, he mainly listened to Fugazi and Sebadoh.[3] Some of his other influences are David Bowie, Jeff Buckley, The Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, Erik Satie, Rachel Grimes, and Dan Bejar.[2] [4]

Spencer Krug first attended college in Vancouver where he “screwed around in arts and humanities,” before doing a few years of music school in Vancouver, then at Concordia University in Montreal.[3] There, he studied music composition and creative writing until he dropped out.[5] He has been part of six bands, as well as releasing solo work under the alias Moonface and his own name. Through these projects, he has contributed to nearly 30 releases,[1] which can make it difficult to decide where to begin listening to his extensive discography.

The intent of this post is to break down each of the projects he’s taken part in to (hopefully) make it easier for people to decide which project they’d be most interested in listening to. This post will include general information on each project as well as a description of how their releases generally sound, their similarities to other projects, and their differences from other projects.

Two Tonne Bowlers[6]

Years Active: 1994

Members: Jeffrey Allport, Kent Reimer, Norm Wickett, Scott Marshall, Simon Culver, Spencer Krug, Tom Reimer, Tony Bobbit

Releases: Mantifiluss (1994)

Genre: Reggae

Style: Ska

Two Tonne Bowlers is the first band Spencer Krug was ever in, but consequently the band there is the least information on, as he was part of it while in high school, when he was around 17. Spencer Krug was the keyboardist of the group; the other members played guitar, electric bass, trombone, saxophone, and the drums.[7]

As the band’s name indicates, their music has a two-tone ska style. Two-tone music is Jamaican ska and reggae music mixed with elements of punk rock music,[8] so Two Tonne Bowlers is one of the bands Spencer Krug contributed to that sounds furthest from his later indie rock projects, especially since Two Tonne Bowlers lacked certain punk rock elements, such as distorted guitars.

Mantifiluss is, in my opinion, the most playful and cheerful-sounding music Spencer Krug has put out. It feels like something to dance to without having chord progressions or lyrics that make you ponder complex concepts, unlike many of his other works. Another difference with other bands he’s been in is that he usually sings nearly all or a good part of the vocals, yet he doesn’t sing any of the vocals on Mantifiluss, apart from on the album’s 9th “hidden” track.[9]

Fifths of Seven[10]

Years Active: 1995-2005

Members: Beckie Foon, Rachel Levine, Spencer Krug

Releases: Spry from Bitter Anise Folds (2005)

Genre: Instrumental

Style: Modern Classical, Post-Rock

Fifths of Seven was formed in 1995 in Montreal,[11] but Spencer Krug didn’t join until around 2004-2005 when Rachel Levine and Becky Foon received a grant from the Canadian government and hired him as a third member.[12] Together they wrote their first and only album, Spry from Bitter Anise Folds, which was recorded in 2005 at Breakglass Studios.[11] The group is made up of Beckie Foon as the cellist, Rachel Levine as the mandolinist, and Spencer Krug as the pianist and accordionist.[13]

Although Spencer Krug has composed other instrumental songs, this is the only fully instrumental album he has worked on. Vocals and lyrics usually have an important role in Spencer Krug’s other releases, but the cinematic melodies in Spry from Bitter Anise Folds’ are able to tell the stories lyrics would. The droning cello, sparse to robust piano, and somber mandolin create a melancholic and fragile atmosphere.[14] No single instrument dominates the music, as each instrument takes turns leading and accompanying throughout each piece. The unusual combination of these instruments gives this chamber music an Eastern European folk music sound.[15] Although this group’s sound is vastly different from Spencer Krug’s Indie Rock bands, there are similarities in the way the songs are on the more experimental and avant-garde side of their genre.

Frog Eyes[16]

Years Active: 2001–2018, 2022–present

Members: Carey Mercer, Melanie Campbell, Shyla Seller, Dante Decaro, Grayson Walker, John Paton, Matt Skilling, McCloud Zicmuse, Megan Boddy, Michael Rak, Ryan Beattie, Spencer Krug, Terri Upton

Releases: The Bloody Hand (2002), Split w/ Jerk with a Bomb single (2002), Emboldened Navigator EP (2003), The Golden River (2003), Ego Scriptor (2004), The Folded Palm (2004), The Future Is Inter-Disciplinary or Not at All EP (2006), Tears of the Valedictorian (2007), Frog Eyes / Hello Blue Roses single (2008), Paul's Tomb: A Triumph (2010), Carey's Cold Spring (2013), Pickpocket's Locket (2015), Violet Psalms (2018), The Bees (2022)

Genre: Rock

Style: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock, Avantgarde, Art Rock, Experimental

Frog eyes was formed when Carey Mercer and Spencer Krug happened to meet and play guitar and organ in someone’s basement. They didn’t know each other well but both needed roommates, so they decided to move in together along with Carey’s wife, Melanie Campbell. They didn’t discuss forming a band; Spencer Krug playing Carey Mercer’s songs with him and Melanie Campbell happened naturally because they were living together.[12] Micheal Rak, a band member from Carey Mercer’s previous band, also joined the group and together they recorded The Bloody Hand and the Emboldened Navigator EP in 2001.[17] Carey Mercer played the guitar, Spencer Krug the keyboard/piano, Melanie Campbell the drums, and Michael Rak the bass.[12] Shortly after recording their first album, Spencer Krug left the band when he moved to Toronto for college, then later — in 2003 — Montreal, where he ended up forming Wolf Parade. He reunited with the band in 2006 and recorded The Future is Inter-Disciplinary or Not At All EP and the Tears of the Valedictorian album.[17]

On the album and EP recorded in 2001, the bass playing and the drumming were simple while the guitars were chaotic, and Spencer Krug was “able to lay [his] patterns somewhere in between all of that,” as he explained in a Last Donut of the Night interview. Carey Mercer was the songwriter, and Spencer Krug didn’t modify the structure he wrote but he did add things to it.[12] Carey Mercer’s songwriting heavily influenced Spencer Krug’s own songwriting, which feels most obvious when listening to Sunset Rubdown.[18] Around the time he was first playing with Frog Eyes, Spencer Krug wrote some of his own experimental music and messed around with computer programs like Logic Audio. Much of this music turned into early Sunset Rubdown songs that he put out himself once he was in Montreal.[12] One of the songs from Sunset Rubdown’s first album “Sol’s Song,” even became a song on Frog Eyes’ The Golden River, “A Song Once Mine Now No Longer Mine.”

Frog Eyes is also similar to Sunset Rubdown in their songs’ unconventional structures and lead singers’ powerful vocals. However “powerful vocals” is an understatement when it comes to Carey Mercer’s vocals which are as full of energy as they could be and filled with screams, yelps, and growls. But his striking vocals don’t make the rest of the band any less important to its sound; Melanie Campbell’s pounding drumming, Spencer Krug’s twinkling keyboard, Carey Mercer (and in 2006, McCloud Zicmuse)’s chaotic guitar(s), and Michael Rak's grounding bass are all essential to bringing each song together.[19] As for Frog Eyes’ lack of discernible structure, the songs’ messiness allows the ideas and feelings behind the music and its lyrics to truly shine.

Wolf Parade[20]

Years Active: 2003–2011, 2016–present

Members: Arlen Thompson, Dan Boeckner, Hadji Bakara, Spencer Krug, Timothy Kingsbury, Dante Decaro

Releases: Wolf Parade EP (2003), Wolf Parade EP (2004), Wolf Parade EP (2005), Apologies To The Queen Mary (2005), At Mount Zoomer (2008), Semi-Precious Stone single (2010), Expo 86 (2010), EP 4 (2016), Cry Cry Cry (2017), Thin Mind (2020)

Genre: Rock

Style: Indie Rock, Progressive Rock, Post-Punk Revival

Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner met in Victoria, British Columbia when they were both working at the same pub to make ends meet.[21] When they were both living in Montreal in 2003, they formed Wolf Parade along with Arlen Thompson and Hadji Bakara. The band was started when Spencer Krug was called to play a show opening for Melon Galia and Arcade Fire but he had no band. So he called Dan Boeckner and they wrote songs with a drum machine playing through computer speakers to have something for the show. About a week before the show, Spencer Krug offered Arlen Thompson to play a show that Saturday. They rehearsed as a full band the day before and the day of the show.[22] For that first show, they were only a trio, but the band was later made up of Spencer Krug as the lyricist, vocalist, and keyboardist; Dan Boeckner as the lyricist, vocalist, and guitarist; Arlen Thompson as the drummer; Hadji Bakara as the keyboardist and thereminist; Timothy Kingsbury as the bassist; and Dante Decaro as the guitarist and bassist.[23] Wolf Parade went on an indefinite hiatus in 2011, but reunited in 2016 and released their fourth album, Cry Cry Cry, in 2017.[24]

When Dan Boeckner was asked to describe the band’s sound in a Montreal Mirror interview not long after the band started, he explained that “ostensibly, we're just making folk music without any of the musical connotations of folk music.” Their sound was influenced by their lack of budget (and therefore limited equipment); they used keyboards because they didn’t have the funds to buy other instruments — initially, Dan Boeckner didn’t even have a guitar.[25] Sub Pop noticed the band and signed a contract with them, giving them a much bigger budget for Apologies To The Queen Mary than the 20 dollars they recorded their EP with.[26]

Their first album, Apologies To The Queen Mary, was an immediate success, and although they had all been in bands before, they had never had this level of popularity until then.[21] The album’s writing and singing are split evenly between the two frontmen, Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner. The two have distinct styles and consequently were different in the music they wanted to play, so they both had to make compromises to make cohesive albums.[27] Apologies To The Queen Mary is the most cohesive of all their albums, while later albums let each members’ own elements and styles stand out more.[28] Hadji Bakara and Spencer Krug both play keyboards, but in very different ways, according to Spencer Krug in an Exclaim! interview, “Hadji is one of the only elements of the band that's always variating,” while “Dan and [him] work in locked-in patterns.” Dante Decaro, as the second guitarist and fifth member, has more freedom to experiment within the songs musically.[26] And Arlen Thompson’s exuberant drums fill the songs with energy and set the mood when starting off songs, such as in “You Are a Runner and I Am My Father’s Son.” Although Wolf Parade is the least experimental indie rock band Spencer Krug has been in, they still find ways to make familiar rock elements come together in an interesting way in each of their songs.

Just like one of Sunset Rubdown’s songs from their first album had ended up on a Frog Eyes album, another song from their debut album, “I’ll Believe In Anything You’ll Believe In Anything,” ended up on Wolf Parade’s debut album as “I’ll Believe In Anything.”[29] Listening to the two versions side by side really makes the differences between Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown clear. Wolf Parade’s “I’ll Believe In Anything” is more harmonious and polished, but to be fair, Sunset Rubdown’s first album is their most experimental and least polished — not that it’s a negative thing.

Sunset Rubdown[30]

Years Active: 2005–2009, 2022–present

Members: Camilla Wynne Ingr, Jordan Robson Cramer, Michael Doerksen, Nicholas Merz, Spencer Krug, Mark Nicol

Releases: Snake's Got A Leg (2005), Sunset Rubdown EP (2006), Shut Up I Am Dreaming (2006), Random Spirit Lover (2007), Introducing Moonface single (2009), Dragonslayer (2009), Always Happy to Explode (2024)

Genre: Rock

Style: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock, Art Rock

Sunset Rubdown’s first demos and album started as a solo project for Spencer Krug to have more freedom making experimental recordings. Spencer Krug explained in a Last Donut of the Night interview that he would “do shit like put pieces of paper between the hammers and the strings so it sounded insane.” Then he’d pull a sample from that and “pile it up into a weird shape on the screen, press play, and listen to what it sounded like. [He]’d build a two-dimensional pyramid out of a three-second sample,” to create songs.[12] Along with its experimental nature, the production (especially on earlier tracks) is very lo-fi, because Spencer Krug didn’t have any funds just like on Wolf Parade’s early EPs. The solo project that was Sunset Rubdown turned into a band in 2006, and what was once an exploration of sound and textures became an exploration of lyrics and structure.[31] The band members’ roles have varied depending on the album, but Spencer Krug has played the piano, keyboard, synth, acoustic guitar, accordion, and kick drum; Camilla Wynne has played the keyboard, omnichord, q-chord, and percussion; Nicholas Merz has played the bass and drums; Jordan Robson Cramer has played the drums, electric guitar, keyboard, and percussion; Michael Doerksen has played the electric guitar, bass, synthesizers, and drums; and Mark Nicol has played the bass and drums. All the members apart from Jordan Robson Cramer and Mark Nicol have sung some of the vocals, but the lead singer is Spencer Krug and Camilla Wynne is usually the one who does the backing vocals.[32] After releasing and touring their 2009 album, Dragonslayer, Sunset Rubdown went on an indefinite hiatus. In 2023, Spencer Krug had a dream that the band were back together and having fun. When he woke up, disappointed that it was a dream, he decided to email the members, and they all replied that they were willing to try getting the band back together. So they started with hanging out and making music, then relearning their old songs, then doing a reunion tour in 2023, and finally — after 15 years — making and releasing a new album.[33]

Progressively through each record, Sunset Rubdown’s music has become more put together and polished. The first album, Snake's Got A Leg, was curated from lo-fi bedroom recordings Spencer Krug had made in the early 2000s.[34] For their second album, Shut Up I Am Dreaming, the band reworked some of the songs from their debut album as well as writing new ones, and each song sounded more complete. But as Spencer Krug put it in an Exclaim! interview, the album was more of a “hodgepodge of songs than a fully realised album.” This changed in their third album, Random Spirit Lover, which was completely cohesive as a whole. Before recording the album, the band had already decided on the track list and they recorded it in that order, refusing to record a track until the previous one was finished.[35] Spencer Krug’s imaginative and storytelling lyrics particularly shine in this band, especially on theatrical-sounding songs like the ones on Random Spirit Lover. Random Spirit Lover was very elaborate musically and had a heavily overdubbed instrumentation,[35] so they decided to go another direction for their fourth album, Dragonslayer. Spencer Krug had an objective to write songs better so that they could stand alone and be played on anything, and that is clear when listening to Dragonslayer. In 2009, Spencer Krug explained in a Drowned in Sound interview that he felt the band was “at the pinnacle of complexity, and to make it creatively interesting, the next logical thing to do would be to take things away.”[31] After their hiatus, Sunset Rubdown released their fifth and latest album, Always Happy to Explode, which does sound less complex and musically busy than the previous records. The tracks on Always Happy to Explode were originally songs Spencer Krug had posted on his Patreon as solo work until Sunset Rubdown had a reunion tour and rewrote the songs together. But using some of Spencer Krug’s solo songs didn’t make the process of writing the album any different; all Sunset Rubdown albums have been songs that Spencer Krug wrote on piano or guitar and then brought to the rest of the members to arrange and add on to them as a band.[33]

Sunset Rubdown’s two most recent albums have more of a progressive rock style — closer to Wolf Parade — than their earlier albums which sound more experimental and artsy. Still, the two bands are quite different; Spencer Krug compared writing with both in an Exclaim! interview, “The band in Sunset Rubdown has the ability to be quieter than Wolf Parade and be more patient… I know that Sunset Rubdown can be more dynamic. We can play more sorts of twisty song structures and let it prog out a bit more without losing patience. And Wolf Parade just blows things out. Even when I write a quiet song on the guitar and take it to them, a month later I'm banging it out on the piano as hard as I can. And that's what Wolf Parade does well, so you might as well just go with it, right?”[35]

Swan Lake[36]

Years Active: 2006–2009

Members: Carey Mercer, Daniel Bejar, Spencer Krug

Releases: Beast Moans (2006), Enemy Mine (2009)

Genre: Rock

Style: Indie Rock, Experimental

Spencer Krug formed Swan Lake with two old friends, Carey Mercer of Frog Eyes and Dan Bejar of Destroyer and the New Pornographers. They had already been collaborating for years when the band formed, with Spencer Krug being an on-and-off member of Frog Eyes, and Dan Bejar picking Frog Eyes as his backing band for Destroyer album Your Blues, touring with them, and recording an EP with them. Additionally, Spencer Krug was roommates with both. First with Dan Bejar in the late 90s, then he moved to Victoria, met Carey Mercer, and became roommates with him in the early 2000s, around the time they started Frog Eyes. It was during the Destroyer/Frog Eyes Europe tour that they all played together and that the idea to make an album together first came up.[37] Throughout their two albums, Carey Mercer played the electric guitar, keyboard, and drums, Dan Bejar played the electric guitar, Spencer Krug played the keyboard, drums, and bass, and they all sang vocals.[38]

Each of the members wrote their own songs — having the chord progression, main vocal melody, lyrics, etc., complete — before recording them together.[39] Though compared to Sunset Rubdown, Spencer Krug tried to keep his ideas very loose so that the other two could fill in the gaps. Because the lyrics came from three different people, they had to unify the albums through the instrumentation.[38] At first, none of them were sure how to approach the project, until they decided to just go into the recording room and sing with an acoustic guitar. Once they had the tracks, Spencer Krug and Carey Mercer did the instrumentation, arrangements, and mixing. Initially, they considered Melanie Campbell as the drummer, but after watching the early sessions, she decided not to join the group. So to create the drum line, they recorded each part of the drums individually and put it all together during the mixing. “It makes for a pretty jerky drum track…it’s quite unsettling,” Carey Mercer commented in a PopMatters interview.[39]

Although Carey Mercer and Spencer Krug are often compared, especially because of their voice, they both feel like their aesthetics are quite different. Carey Mercer explained in an interview from Exclaim! that he has “this idea of weaving 20 different melodies, and [Spencer] wants everything to turn into one very cohesive whole,” and he especially likes “the parts on the record where you can feel all of [their] wills murking about.” In the same interview, Dan Bejar describes Carey Mercer as having “a kind of total disregard for melody, and a total insistence on it at the same time.”[40] Dan Bejar believes his strengths are in his lyrics and delivery of them but that he lacks any kind of musical sophistication, while Spencer Krug thinks his strengths are in his sophistication with the music and instruments but that he can’t write lyrics as poetically as Dan Bejar, and Carey Mercer feels that he equally works on both.[39]

Swan Lake’s first album, Beast Moans, was weavings of each of the members’ styles, often creating layer upon layer of various melodies and stylistics, sometimes creating a dissonant sound. On the other hand, their second album, Enemy Mine, is more stripped down which makes the melodies clearer, and it has a more deliberate approach to their collaboration.[41] This more stripped-down sound is most noticeable when comparing the song “Paper Lace” on the Enemy Mine album and the version on Sunset Rubdown’s Dragonslayer, where the instruments are a lot more prominent and feel more dense.

Moonface[42]

Years Active: 2010-2018, 2022

Alias: Spencer Krug

Releases: Dreamland EP: Marimba and Shit-Drums (2010), Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped (2011), The Way You Wish You Could Live In The Storm single (2011), Moonface With Siinai – Heartbreaking Bravery (2012), Julia With Blue Jeans On (2013), City Wrecker EP (2014), Moonface & Siinai – My Best Human Face (2016), This One's for the Dancer & This One's for the Dancer's Bouquet (2018), The Minotaur Instrumentals (2022)

Genre: Rock

Style: Indie Rock, Experimental, Avantgarde, Electronic

As Moonface is an alias Spencer Krug recorded solo work (apart from the collaborative albums with Siinai) under, I’ve combined the paragraphs on it and his other solo work below to avoid having two very repetitive sections.

Solo Work[43]

Years Active: 2019-present

Releases: Fading Graffiti (2021), Red Dress / Nightswimming EP (2021), Twenty Twenty Twenty Twenty One (2022), I Just Drew This Knife (2023), 20202021 Solo Piano (2024), Patreon songs (2019-present)

Genre: Rock

Style: Indie Rock, Art Rock, Post-Rock

While he has contributed to many bands, Spencer Krug has also created music by himself throughout the years. The earliest solo work he released was Sunset Rubdown, but the project later turned into a full band.[12] From 2010 to 1018, he released home-recorded instrumental and conceptual experimentations under the alias Moonface. After moving from Montreal to Helsinki, he recorded two albums with Finnish band Siinai, Heartbreaking Bravery and My Best Human Face.[44] But after releasing seven records as Moonface, Spencer Krug decided to release his solo work under his own name for a number of reasons, which can be summed up as that he felt the name created self-made misrepresentation.[45] Since 2019, he has released three solo albums as well as monthly new songs on his Patreon.[43] His solo work has mostly been played on the piano, keyboard, synthesizer, or electric guitar, and he also sometimes adds digital drums, strings, or other effects.[46]

Under the moniker Moonface and his own name, Spencer Krug feels more free to release works that wouldn’t fit the expectations people have for his other projects. He explained this in a San Francisco Examiner interview, “There are certain parameters that are expected out of certain bands. And it’s not just record labels or audiences or critics who place expectations. I’ve been guilty of playing to expectations. I don’t have to worry about that with Moonface.”[47] Even though he usually keeps his solo work more simple, this leads his releases to have much more variety in styles and sound. It also sometimes creates unexpected shifts between albums with, for example, Julia With Blue Jeans On being a solo piano and voice album, then with his next release, My Best Human Face, being an album recorded with another band (Siinai) and that has a more post-rock style, and then a more electronic and experimental album, This One's for the Dancer & This One's for the Dancer's Bouquet (which is actually a mix of two separate projects),[45] as the release after that. Another difference between his solo work and his other projects is that his solo songs usually have more literal and straight-forward lyrics, unlike projects like Sunset Rubdowns where songs are filled with figurative language.[27] On the other hand, his solo work is similar to Sunset Rubdown in the way that he has often reworked songs for both projects. He explained his reasoning behind reworking songs in a Beats per Minutes interview, “I think songs can change their impact, can change so much based on their instrumentation and the way they’re arranged for an instrument. And I find that really interesting. And then sometimes I find the two results will both be so strong that it’s worth sharing them both.”[33]

Conclusion

I hope this guide has been informative! Although I’d highly recommend listening to all of his projects, I hope this post will inspire you to listen to at least one of them. And if you’re already a fan of Spencer Krug, I hope you’ve learned a couple new things about his projects.

If this paper (especially the last two sections) looks rushed it's because I did the entire thing the last 3 days before it was due. Also if you spot any mistakes, please correct me.

Sources

1. “Artists - Pronounced Kroog.” Pronounced Kroog, 2024, pronouncedkroog.com/pages/artists.

2. “Spencer Krug Vinyl Records & Discography.” Vinyl Me, Please, www.vinylmeplease.com/blogs/artists/spencer-krug-vinyl.

3. Noel, Alyssa. “To the Moon and Beyond: Spencer Krug’s Giant Leap.” SPIN, 13 June 2012, www.spin.com/2012/06/moon-and-beyond-spencer-krugs-giant-leap/.

4. Wheeler, Brad. “Why Spencer Krug Went Slightly Mad Making His Latest Album.” The Globe and Mail, 15 Nov. 2013, www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/why-spencer-krug-went-slightly-mad-making-his-latest-album/article15464077/.

5. Petitti, Michael. “Sunset Rubdown Collate Again to Create Another Stunner.” Tucson Weekly, 11 Oct. 2007, www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/third-act/Content?oid=1089289.

6. “Two Tonne Bowlers | Discogs.” Discogs, www.discogs.com/artist/1396775-Two-Tonne-Bowlers.

7. “Two Tonne Bowlers - Penticton, BC Legion Hall - January 29 1994.” YouTube, uploaded by Belvedere Band, 21 May 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJeEn41lByY.

8. “Ska Revival.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/style/ska-revival-ma0000002403.

9. “Two Tonne Bowlers - Mantifiluss.” YouTube, uploaded by megathom, 22 Jan. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG5SbJ09fDE.

10. “Fifths of Seven | Discogs.” Discogs, discogs.com/artist/345265-Fifths-of-Seven.

11. “Spry From Bitter Anise Folds | Fifths of Seven.” Bandcamp, 13 Dec. 2017, fifthsofseven.bandcamp.com/album/spry-from-bitter-anise-folds.

12. “Spencer Krug on Working at a Bagel Shop, the Wolf Parade Hiatus, and His Incredible Career.” Last Donut of the Night, 27 July 2022, last-donut-of-the-night.ghost.io/spencer-krug-on-working-at-a-bagel-shop-the-wolf-parade-hiatus-and-his-incredible-career/.

13. “FIFTHS OF SEVEN (Canada).” Wayback Machine, web.archive.org/web/20071019192341/www.dsawave.com/wave/fiches/artistes/27.html.

14. “Fifths of Seven - Spry From Bitter Anise Folds.” Sputnik Music, 12 June 2009, www.sputnikmusic.com/review/30924/Fifths-of-Seven-Spry-From-Bitter-Anise-Folds/.

15. Murphy, Matthew. “Fifths of Seven: Spry From Bitter Anise Folds.” Pitchfork, 29 June 2005, pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/3341-spry-from-bitter-anise-folds/.

16. “Frog Eyes | Discogs.” Discogs, www.discogs.com/artist/831336-Frog-Eyes.

17. “FROG EYES.” SoftAbuse, web.archive.org/web/20071014044556/http://softabuse.com/artists/frog_eyes.html.

18. “Frog Eyes / Sunset Rubdown.” Pitchfork, 5 June 2006, pitchfork.com/features/article/6353-frog-eyes-sunset-rubdown/.

19. Wilson, Carl. “Frog Eyes: Tears of the Valedictorian.” Pitchfork, 3 May 2007, pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10167-tears-of-the-valedictorian/.

20. “Wolf Parade | Discogs.” Discogs, www.discogs.com/artist/366836-Wolf-Parade.

21. Coyne, Nicholas. “Dan Boeckner Tells the History of Wolf Parade, Album by Album.” TIDAL, 20 Oct. 2017, tidal.com/magazine/article/dan-boeckner-tells-the-history-of-wolf-parade-album-by-album/1-45076.

22. “Wolf Parade.” Sub Pop Records, 2005, web.archive.org/web/20060419225026/www.subpop.com/scripts/main/bands_page.php?id=438.

23. “Wolf Parade Members and Their Gear.” Equipboard, equipboard.com/band/wolf-parade.

24. O’Kane, Josh. “When Bands like Wolf Parade Break up, Why Do They Get Back Together?” The Globe and Mail, 22 July 2016, www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/when-bands-like-wolf-parade-break-up-why-do-they-get-back-together/article31082275/.

25. Carpenter, Lorraine. “Local Art Rockers Wolf Parade Dress up Nice and Piss on the Dinner Table.” Montreal Mirror, Aug. 2004, web.archive.org/web/20060426225450/www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/2004/080504/music1.html.

26. Barclay, Michael. “Hungry Like the Wolf Parade.” Exclaim!, 30 Sept. 2005, exclaim.ca/music/article/hungry_like_wolf_parade.

27. Young, Natasha. “Spencer Krug: The Lost Interview.” Medium, 5 Feb. 2016, tashayoung.medium.com/spencer-krug-the-lost-interview-4f7cc2d3fcdc.

28. Bobkin, Matt. “An Essential Guide to Wolf Parade, Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug.” Exclaim!, 4 Apr. 2016, exclaim.ca/music/article/an_essential_guide_to_wolf_parade.

29. Litowitz, Drew, and Nick Freed. “Dissected: Spencer Krug.” Consequence, 11 Apr. 2012, consequence.net/2012/04/dissected-spencer-krug/3/.

30. “Sunset Rubdown | Discogs.” Discogs, www.discogs.com/artist/622678-Sunset-Rubdown.

31. Tudor, Alexander. “Sunset Rubdown: Interview, Part One.” Drowned in Sound, 14 Sept. 2009, drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4137807-sunset-rubdown--interview-part-one.

32. “Dragonslayer | Sunset Rubdown.” bandcamp, 2009, sunsetrubdown.bandcamp.com/album/dragonslayer.

33. McMullen, Chase. “‘The Reason I’m Not Sad Is There’s Sadness in My Songs’: Spencer Krug Talks Sunset Rubdown Reunion and New Album.” Beats Per Minute, 30 Sept. 2024, beatsperminute.com/interview-spencer-krug-talks-sunset-rubdown-reunion-and-new-album/.

34. “Sunset Rubdown - Snake’s Got a Leg.” Pronounced Kroog, 2024, pronouncedkroog.com/collections/all/products/sunset-rubdown-snakes-got-a-leg.

35. Thiessen, Brock. “The Weirdness of Sunset Rubdown.” Exclaim!, 16 Sept. 2007, exclaim.ca/music/article/weirdness_of_sunset_rubdown.

36. “Swan Lake (2) | Discogs.” Discogs, www.discogs.com/artist/605693-Swan-Lake-2.

37. “Swan Lake Preps Debut Full-Length on Jagjaguwar.” Force Field PR, 6 Aug. 2006, www.forcefieldpr.com/2006/08/06/swan-lake-preps-debut-full-length-on-jagjaguwar/.

38. mmmbarclay. “Swan Lake: Spencer Krug.” radio free canuckistan, 17 Nov. 2006, radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2006/11/swan-lake-spencer-krug.html.

39. Kelly, Jennifer. “All for One and One for All: An Interview With Swan Lake.” PopMatters, 17 Jan. 2007, www.popmatters.com/all-for-one-and-one-for-all-an-interview-with-swan-lake-2495785739.html.

40. Barclay, Michael. “Three Men On Swan Lake.” Exclaim!, 15 Feb. 2007, exclaim.ca/music/article/three_men_on_swan_lake.

41. “Swan Lake.” Jagjaguwar, jagjaguwar.com/artist/swanlake/.

42. “Moonface (2) | Discogs.” Discogs, www.discogs.com/artist/1747096-Moonface-2.

43. “Spencer Krug | Discogs.” Discogs, www.discogs.com/artist/605695-Spencer-Krug

44. “Jagjaguwar::JAG222.” Jagjaguwar, 2013, jagjaguwar.com/release/jag222/.

45. “Jagjaguwar::Moonface.” Jagjaguwar, 2018, jagjaguwar.com/artist/moonface/.

46. Krug, Spencer. “Spencer Krug | About.” Patreon, www.patreon.com/spencerkrug/about.

47. Examiner Staff. “Spencer Krug’s Moonface Steeped in Empathy, Piano.” San Francisco Examiner, 18 Nov. 2013, www.sfexaminer.com/culture/spencer-krug-s-moonface-steeped-in-empathy-piano/article_7b87ad5f-9577-5f77-9d41-a3b00cf07747.html.

[rehsgalleries]

Eugen von Blaas

(1843 - 1932)

The Mandolinist

Oil on canvas

24 by 32 1/8 inches

Signed

[saltedcaramelchaos]

Trick or treat :D

Treat!! (fun fact :3)

The mandolin is a small-ish string instrument with eight strings, separated into four pairs of two; pairs are tuned to the same note as each other! It was originally created as a way for violin players to practice, and is tuned to the same 4 notes as a violin (not to mention the name mando-LIN)- however, they're played by picking or strumming, like a guitar or banjo ^-^ If you're curious, Chris Thile is the best mandolinist I've ever seen, and you can probably look up some clips of him lol

[esteemed-excellency]

I just played the Brass Grail ES and my personal sidequest is complete: Hiram officially met all the main grand devils.

The Chandler: tragic love story + cursed light horror. His corpse is his tomb and a chapel and his prison. I'm not a big fan of the sainthood trope but I'm giving him a solid 9/10 for the aesthetic.

The Piper: Rejoice in Her Music. 10/10 for the blissful creeping dread, and for always reminding me of The Piper by ABBA.

The Drummer: In theory? Interesting concept. In practice? I'm not going through the church storyline, sorry buddy. 6/10.

The Vintner: she can have my soul anytime but we don't know much about her. 7/10.

The Mandolinist: Giant Moth. His music makes you go insane. 15/10.

The Dowager: Kaleidoscopically beautiful. But not as much as a giant moth. 8/10.

Virginia's ex: Funny guy just because he agreed to spite Virginia. 8/10.

[sgiandubh]

Sunday sounds: an old maid

It's Sunday, again. The Bulgarian earworm was so effective, that I thought I 'd make it up to you with something vastly different. And better:

Hen Ferchetan means 'old maid', in Welsh and this is, as the name does not suggest, a nursery rhyme.

In Avi Avital's masterful, enticing rendition. He is probably one of the best mandolinists of our times, if not of all times (look for his Vivaldi recordings in Venice, for Deutsche Grammophon, you'll probably agree).

Enjoy. I'll do the laundry, or at least my responsible clone will. Or should.

[countryhixes]

Someday Sweetheart · Al Miller 

from Al Miller 1927-1936

Mandolinist Al Miller played and sang in a style that combined elements of country, blues and jazz, doing his part to pave the way for a genre-blending development known as western swing. His overall sound invites comparison with Charlie McCoy, Yank Rachell, Charlie Burse and Peg Leg Howell. During the years 1927-1936 Miller cut more than two dozen titles under his own name, and sat in with pianist Cripple Clarence Lofton and singers Red Nelson Wilborn, Luella Miller and Mozelle Alderson. 

After cutting his first sides for Black Patti records, Miller was invited by producer J. Mayo Williams to cross over to Paramount and Brunswick. He also recorded for Gennett with King Mutt and his Tennessee Thumpers. Miller's most famous composition, "Somebody's Been Using That Thing," was popularized by Hudson Whittaker, known professionally as Tampa Red.

Personal Information regarding Miller's origins and eventual fate has yet to come to light; after the 1936 Decca recordings the trail abruptly grows cold...

[kingofthewilderwest]

Bill Monroe challenges Mcgucket to a dueling banjo session. Who wins?

XD Here goes an unnecessarily detailed answer, as one might expect from me.

Father of Bluegrass Bill Monroe (1911-1996) was a virtuosic mandolinist (also no slouch on guitar) who incorporated fiddling influences into his playing. Rather than an old-style shimmering tremelo, Bill Monroe attacked the strings in an impressive combination of rhythmic adroitness and dogged melody. His playing had rhythmic quirks bluegrass mandolinists tease on today, but I think it augments rather than detracts from his iconic sound.

Historically speaking, Monroe stepped the game up for virtuosity in American country music. Even when he was in his twenties, performing duos and trios with his brothers on the radio in a more old-time style, his technical alacrity caught attention. Monroe fashioned bluegrass with blues and even jazz influences, such as the idea of instrumentalists taking turns doing technical instrumental breaks, one after the other. Thus, not only did he have to be at a high standard, but he pushed everyone in his band to match it. This man regularly performed hundreds of songs at a whim with good ear and improv ability.

Now, Fidds, my beloved... how does he compare? We hear relatively little of Fiddleford McGucket's banjo picking in Gravity Falls. What information we could glean is contradictory due to animation and sound design inaccuracy. I apologize for upcoming jargon, but I'll explain. ;)

McGucket owns multiple banjos. All banjos he's owned lack planetary tuners, which tends to indicate a low-cost banjo beginners and non-serious players use. However, given as McGucket has dedicatedly played banjo since at least the 1970s, and is dedicated enough to own a collection, this suggests a more invested player. (Of course, you can play for years and be passionate and still suck, but there's a higher chance you're good, hah!) Looking at the meta context, the animators would have no idea they were connotating lower-end instruments, so let's go with writing intent: McGucket is the banjo guy playing with love and passion for decades.

McGucket is most often seen with open-backs, but also has had a Seeger (long-neck) banjo and a resonator. Open-back and Seeger banjos suggest McGucket plays in the old-time style, which is (often) based on repeated rhythms and chords. That we've never seen Fiddleford McGucket wear finger picks also matches old-time. Now, I love old-time, it's gorgeous. But. Old-time banjo doesn't... shred... so in a dueling session, this would be trumped by Monroe's more advanced approach.

On the other hand, McGucket has a resonator. Resonator banjos can and have been used for old-time styles, but in general: if you have a resonator, you're a three-finger style bluegrass picker. This is a very different technique than old-time and will start to put McGucket in the competition. It's also said in Journal 3 he loves listening to high-intensity bluegrass, and when we hear sound clips of McGucket playing, it's in the three-finger bluegrass style. They animate him wrong to be making those sounds, but those are the sounds they're evoking. So, given animation is always inaccurate depicting instruments and performance, bluegrass is the genre associated most directly with McGucket, the animators and maybe even composer might've had no knowledge of old-time and its sounds, and the soundtrack always evokes bluegrass-style banjo... the Gravity Falls team probably wanted to indicate McGucket played bluegrass-style banjo.

I'm not on a computer with speakers to listen to McGucket playing, but I distinctly remember A Tale of Two Stans. I can and have played that riff. I'll transcribe (more or less) it by memory rn.

McGucket is approximately playing the first few measures of Foggy Mountain Breakdown with the barcodes pulled off. He starts with the Foggy Mountain roll on a G chord, then descends to do a forward roll on an e minor chord. Without jargon, this means he's playing two very simple right hand patterns. These patterns are ones a baby banjo picker would learn in their first month playing.

And that's exactly what happened when you know how the soundtrack developed! Gravity Falls' composer learned some banjo for GF. He's doing what I would... learn baby-baby basics so you can record an instrument live. But this means that, because he learned juuuust enough to get the banjo sound in GF (S1 banjo sounds worse than S2 because of this learning curve, too), he can't depict McGucket as a skilled picker. He does an impressive job with the above measures given his inexperience (the tone is better than I'd expect), but the material itself is rudimentary.

Contrast this with Bill Monroe in one of his beloved instrumentals, Southern Flavor (he is the mandolinist who starts the song, first soloist):

Given what Gravity Falls put in the show, McGucket wouldn't stand a chance against Monroe. McGucket wouldn't get hired by Monroe. Obviously we have to do legwork to go beyond imperfect depictions - the limited knowledge and playing ability of animators and composer - so it's very fair to say McGucket is better than anything presented. But, even then, he's got zero shot competing against a professional who expanded virtuosity of a music style and forced musicians around him to get up to his level. Bluegrass had come into its own and many, many, many amateur players were playing breathtakingly by the 1960s and 1970s. But you ain't gonna beat the master who got 'em all there.