Brutality Garden collective completes the second stage of their operation. After EPs by T’ien Lai, Erva and Moniké, the time has come for ||ALA|MEDA|| to present a second volume of "Spectra". The collective’s inclinations towards the music of Global South resulted, in the case of this band, in a fascinating fusion of subequatorial inspirations and industrial sounds. Even though the band has left its krautrock and avant-prog roots way behind, their knack for experimentation and searching for new forms is still there. Delving deeper into the rhythms of batida, gqom and Afro-Caribbean music, ||ALA|MEDA|| is still a live band, that combines all the advantages of live stage performance with the feeling of community, characteristic of club music.

The album’s first single is "um’khonto" ("a spear" in English), which features guest South African group Phelimuncasi. They are one of the pioneers of gqom, a local version of house music, characteristic for its dark, heavy atmosphere and very spacious mix. Confronted with the band’s lush instrumentation, Phelimuncasi’s vocalists don’t have a lot of space. Not only do they respond to one another, but they also compete for the listener’s attention with various percussion, winding synthesizers and turntable scratches (by DJ Paulo from Bydgoszcz, Poland). However, in this setting, their dynamic rivalry works brilliantly, as the composition’s quality is brought out by this intricacy of arrangement and the multicolored maximalism of the Poles is superbly accentuated by the rhythmic qualities of Zulu language with its distinctive click consonants.

From the start "Spectra 02" intoxicates the listener with its euphoric nature. The way in which ||ALA|MEDA|| employs melody is immediately reminiscent of The Second Summer of Love, during which artists frequently utilized high frequencies to move the audience that was tripping on MDMA. The opening piece "dom os", with its deeply rooted in African grooves rhythm section, directly communicates the idea of blending organic sounds with club music. This track features guest saxophonist Marek Pospieszalski (Malediwy), known for his „afroaleatoric" technique, who weaves a dense, hypnotic tapestry separating two ravey parts of the song.

For those accustomed to alternative and experimental music or various reissues of African music, tracks such as "wir", "genet" or "murmur" will seem so elaborate that each of them could become a separate, an hour-long improvisation, or, at least, an epic story comparable to afrobeat narratives. For those who will approach "Spectra 02" with a baggage of club music experience, the most noticeable thing will be the sophisticated techniques of genre-blending in a way that each composition becomes a little DJ set that unifies all the stops on a journey from Africa to European and American clubs.

The album’s interpretation key may lie in the title of the fourth track "uchoko" ("eareye") - which features swrcfx (Rozwód, SKI) - that suggests a sensory transfer and synesthetic expericence, being at the same time the most peaceful and clear moment of the whole record, it draws the listener’s attention and proposes the key to the elaborate mystery that is "Spectra 02". This album is full of paradoxes and contradictions, but they are only the means to the full realization of the path, that the band took on their previous album: the obliteration of all divisions between high and low, sublime and vulgar.

|ALA|MEDA|| (formerly known as Alameda 5) is a true gem in Polish independent music scene - a singular intergenerational project, which enfolds decades of experiences with creating new and expanding already existing musical languages. Jacek Buhl (drums) is one of the originators of new wave/post-punk in Poland (Variété) and yass (an Eastern European response to jazz) with Trytony, as well as an established free improviser (Jachna/Mazurkiewicz/Buhl). Rafał Iwański (percussion) is known mostly for improvising groups HATI and Innercity Ensemble which combined post-industrial trance with ethnomusicological explorations of rhythms, scales and instruments from different parts of the world. Piotr Michalski (bass guitar) and Łukasz Jędrzejczak (electronics) became known as members of post-rock and post-hardcore bands specializing in complex, trance-like song structures (3moonboys, Javva, So Slow). Awarded with prestigious Paszport Polityki in 2016 Jakub Ziołek is recognized for his blending of acoustic guitars and digital electronics in folk-inspired krautrock and post-minimalist compositions (Stara Rzeka, Zimpel/Ziołek). Thanks to the synthesis of these different practices and musical experiences, ||ALA|MEDA|| - a completely new quality - emerged on Polish alternative scene. By far the band has released two acclaimed LPs: "Duch Tornada" (2015, Instant Classic, 2xLP / 2x CD) and "Eurodrome" (2019, Instant Classic, LP / CD) and is well-known for powerful and euphoric concerts which resulted in invitations to such festivals as Unsound Festival in Cracow, Positive Futures Festival in Innsbruck, Wine Nat White Heat Festival in Nantes/Paris, Jaiyede Jazz Festival in Odense, Sharpe Festival in Bratislava, Avant Art Festival in Wroclaw, JazzArt Festival in Katowice and many more.