Cortex (Belgium) has been played on NTS shows including Supporter Radio: Metamorphosis, with Cortex E first played on 11 December 2014.

Cortex was Alain Neffe’s musical project before he started Bene Gesserit in 1982, his duo with partner Nadine Bal aka Benedict G. In 1981-82, the latter was then manager for Belgian New Wave band Digital Dance. Cortex was active between 1978 and 1982, their music focusing on electronic ambient tonalities and female poetry reading (in French), with tracks merely numbered by their respective letters – so presumably the entire Cortex output amounts to 26 tracks. Cortex A, B and C appeared on Insane Music For Insane People #01, 1981. Other tracks appeared on other compilations on Insane or elsewhere. ‘Souvenir/souvenirs’ is probably Cortex’s only full length release. The Belgian label Grafika Airlines published this tape as a joint release with Insane Music in 1984. My copy is the undated, Insane Music issue. Music-wise: The unsettling, metaphysical synth washes make one feel uneasy with their menacing tonalities, not unlike the 1972 Solaris soundtrack by Edward Artemiev. The readers are very young women just out of teenagehood. Their poetry deals with day-to-day concerns of late night cafés, neon lights, jukeboxes, the difficulty to find one’s place in society, lost love and lack thereof.