The Guitar Plus Me

The Guitar Plus Me is the solo work of Yoichi Shiozawa. His band name is the perfect description for what it sounds like: simple little songs featuring acoustic guitars and Shiozawa's mellow voice, all very dry and stripped down. The folky tunes are often augmented with equally dry electronic sounds burbling away in the background, which adds a surprising amount of depth to what could otherwise be rather boring arrangements. In fact, his MySpace page lists influences from Simon and Garfunkle to Aphex Twin. You can hear some of his tracks here (warning! Windows Media!) and check out a streaming video here (again, Windows Media).