Return to the Return (of the Spectrum of Intergalactic Happiness)
Zeds Dead · Electronic
“You made a sequel to a sequel, dropped it on a full moon, and sampled Chopin next to a hypnosis tape. The most on-brand thing about it is that it somehow works.”
Boys, you named an album Return to the Return of the Spectrum of Intergalactic Happiness, which is a sequel to a sequel with a title so nested it needs its own table of contents. And then you surprise-dropped it at midnight on the largest full moon of the year, timed to your Red Rocks run, because nothing says serious bass music like astrology-core release strategy. Sally is rolling her eyes and, annoyingly, also nodding along. Because the record is genuinely good. Fourteen tracks of sampling-driven, spatiotemporal world-building, vintage hypnosis tapes and documentary audio and actual Chopin threaded through the low end, with CUT_, Scratch Bastid, Jem Cooke and Kerli along for the ride. Several songs answer tracks from the predecessor, so it recontextualizes rather than just rehashes. The EDM press is right that there is a track here for every corner of the scene. The eye-roll is the packaging, not the music. A duo that swears up and down it does not chase genres while very much making dubstep, wrapping a strong album in a title and a moon-phase rollout that dare you to take it seriously. Take the Chopin sample as the thesis: pretentious on paper, gorgeous in practice.
This is a confident, richly built record that expands its predecessor's world instead of coasting on it. The sampling craft is real, the guest list is sharp, and it lands as a genuine event rather than a cash-in.
The title is a dare
“The album is literally called Return to the Return (of the Spectrum of Intergalactic Happiness), a sequel to their 2025 Return to the Spectrum of Intergalactic Happiness.”
The fix Nothing to fix in the music, but a title this nested buries a strong record under its own punchline. Trust the songs to carry the concept.
Genre-denial while making the genre
“The duo insists bass genres are just things they dabble in, on an album squarely in dubstep-adjacent bass music with a track for every scene.”
The fix Own the lane. The record is best when it commits to the drop rather than hedging about what it is.
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A full teardown from €2,99. No mercy.