David Bowles has said that his intention in crafting this album was to create "intellectual dance music." In this he succeeded admirably, and I find This Insubstantial Pageant significantly more palatable than I find most conventional dance music. My tastes in the electronic tend more toward Orbital, Boards of Canada, and Nine Inch Nails, though I do enjoy traditional four-on-the-floor bass drum electronic dance music if I'm in a club.
Somewhat predictably, the highlight of the album for me is the blues vocals over acoustic guitars and synth backgrounds in the opener, Huckleberry Juju. Bowles has a good singing voice, and I'd love to hear him record a real acoustic blues number... which leads me to my main complaint about the album: the effected vocals. Frequently, the vocal tracks have an effected bass tone that sounds synthetic, even if it actually isn't. Sometimes the bassified vocals work for me, but most of the time I find myself wishing for uneffected or possibly distorted vocals.
Some tracks are possibly a bit longer than strictly necessary, though that's more a much more useful "failing" in dance than in other genres.
Melodically, This Insubstantial Pageant is considerably more interesting than a lot of other dance. That's also true lyrically -- at least, when I can make the lyrics out. The effected vocals make it harder than it should be.
Overall, though, when I want to pull a dance record out of my library, this is one of the first ones I go for. Quite enjoyable.
The Record: This Insubstantial Pageant (David Bowles), 2007
One-line verdict: Dancey.
Standount Tracks: Huckleberry Juju, Ineluctable