Ok so the title of this post has nothing to do with Van Halen.
But since we’re running with the devil…
I encountered a lost DLR on West 4th St one morning in the early ‘00s, easily a Top 5 subway moment.
As Indy would say, “it belongs in a museum.”
Anyway!
The actual little guitar I speak of is the Loog Mini, a “learner” axe that takes the highest 3 strings of a normal one and sizes ‘em down for small people.
I bought a teal Mini from Kidding Around last year as an xmas gift for my four-year-old niece (a small person). Much to my delight, a red one showed up at Housing Works several months later and I immediately grabbed it for myself (a slightly larger small person).
“Now we can jam!”
Our duet may still be several years of attention span growth away, but this bb ripper quickly became my absolute favorite thing to play around the house.
The Loog Mini is smaller than a cuatro, bigger than a mandolin.
I would say cooler than a ukelele, though that implies a value judgement / shot at Machine Gun Kelly (and the entirety of Hawaii).
These are all worthy instruments; I’m just digging my Loog.
It’s not a toy, but feels like one. The Mini weighs almost nothing, and has a loose, unpretentious sense of fun that commands me to pick it up and mindlessly noodle / chuck some Mary.
“Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane…”
No matter your skill level, the small scale and solid construction of the Loog — good wood, good frets, great tuners — is addictive.
If you write music in any way, the size and reduced number of strings encourages fresh chord shapes and new riffs (see also: “weird shaped notebooks make me want to write again.”)
Even if you’ve never picked up a guitar in your life, we all could benefit from more screen-less activities this summer.
Gotta start somewhere!
Jenevieve, “Head Over Heels” — more G. Dep samples plz.
Guerilla Toss feat. Stephen Malkmus and Trey Anastasio, “Red Flag to Angry Bull” — it is 2025 and Phish x Pavement exists. On Sub Pop!
Subsonic Eye, “Aku Cemas” — beguiling indie pop, shot on film in Singapore (and intentionally or not, channeling the excellent Netflix doc Shirkers). The band just did a fun Talkhouse chat with fellow enthusiast Ryan Hemsworth if u want some background.
Ouzo Bazooka, Kapaim — somehow found myself on the Batov Records mailing list and have been loving each and every hookah banger they send me.
Mei Semones, “Dumb Feeling” — boss(a) up!
Memphis Bleek Podcast — run directly to Pain In Da Ass episode.
Tom Rowlands “We Are Nothing / All Night” — Chemical Bro (singular) works it out on Erol Alkan’s label. DnB b-side for the win.
Playlists updated…