Scott Cortez, (b.1969) is a textural guitarist & visual artist based in Chicago. Cortez has been making instrumental ambient guitar music for over two decades. He embraces lo-fi minimalist aesthetics by limiting himself to guitars, 4 track cassette recorders, and looping pedals. From these modest tools he combines technique with various processed guitar textures to create droning, shimmering, soundscapes.

Cortez explores the textural possibilities of the guitar, creating music that ranges from experimental to post-rock to contemporary. His trademark sound combines guitar playing with digital techniques, using the guitar as a tone generator, processing the signal through various pedals and filters to create dense shimmering tapestries of sound. Cortez’s music often incorporates drones and loops, which he crafts into enigmatic sound worlds with very subtle melodies. His work focuses mainly on the tonal possibilities of the guitar, and is usually produced without the aid of a computer.