Cortex Thrill

Renowned Croatian DJ, producer and artist Ivo T. Montina aka Cortex, started to produce music in 1990 and soon after he joined up with Sven Gleda to form Cortex Thrill and become the pioneers of the Croatian electronic music scene. A few years later (1993) they get their first release on Loving Ed Records before they got snapped up by the mighty Bonzai Records. At the time Bonzai Records were just over 1 year old, and it was music such as Cortex Thrill’s Intro and Duction that helped champion the sound that would go on to dominate the world. With a high demand for their brand of techno trance, Cortex Thrill went on to release several other tracks for Bonzai and these tracks were starting to be handpicked for compilations such as Tiesto’s Forbidden paradise 3 and 4 as well as countless Bonzai compilations. In 1995 more success arrived at their door after a top notch remix of Jones & Stephenson’s The First Rebirth, now their sound was described as dark trance by Frontpage Magazine. In 1996 Cortex Thrill started to move into techno and house, releasing 6 singles for the famous Discomagic. A new studio was built and work began on several new projects under Cortex Productions, and it wasn’t long before they were being recognised with Tutto Dance magazing ranking Cortex Thrill in the top 50 International Producers.

After a short hiatus Ivo returned to producing and started to work with many artists including Mary, Smorphya, Carlo Testi, Michael Burkat, Funk D ‘ Void, Cet, Zoky, Pero Fullhouse and Alen. The likes of Cosmophilia, Klangwerk Records and Choice records motivate Ivo to work more and dig into different styles of electronic music. In 2001 the Cortex team opened a new studio named Cortex Studio which was aimed towards professional producers in both the underground and commercial scenes. In 2002 they begin working with DJ Mary on Mar-Tex and releases on Choice Records, Pornographic Records and Northwest Dynamics soon follow with good successes. They joined Deep and Dark records soon after and release several singles covering different genres including techno, trance and tech house. They team up with DJ Zoky as ZOTEX in 2004 and release Kronos EP on Deep & Dark Records with a very well received response. 2005 saw a collaboration with DJ Pero Fullhouse and they released Moondance together on Omega Rhythm which was remixed by Funk D’Void and also entered the Carl Cox official playlist. Persistence Of Time followed on Deep & Dark and was published on 10inch vinyl with a remix from Peter Dundov. This single also kickstarted a new direction for Cortex Thrill as they focused more on tech trance with tech house elements. Fast Forward to 2015 and a new studio – Panorama – is used to create the album Unique Mosaic which is released on Soul Access Records and was followed by the Spice Of Life EP in 2016.

Also in 2016 Cortex Thrill returned to its spiritual home – Bonzai Records (now Bonzai Progressive) – after 20 plus years with the superb Mitochondria which saw rave reviews and a lot of interest as well as high positions on top download portals. Cortex Thrill are currently working on their next Bonzai Progressive single. Plenty to more to come from Cortex Thrill so stay tuned.