I'm mainly reviewing this because I've just discovered Dntel's Life is Full of Possibilities and that I feel that I can't really review the album one year after its release. But it's awesome, go buy it. 

(This is) the Dream of Evan and Chan was the most obvious choice as a single, even though most of the songs on Life is Full of Possibilities could be released as singles. But. This is catchy and melodic, you can dance to it and actually enjoy it. And in the meantime this is still Intelligent Dance Music, you can enjoy it without the "dancing" part. 

Now I'll tell you why Dntel's music is enjoyable (in my humble indie girl opinion). Most of the Intelligent Dance Music artists went really far away from the Dance part. Try dancing to Autechre without stumbling. Tough. This lack of danceable-ness was just a reaction to Dumb Dance Music and in the end Intelligence Dance Music couldn't be really labeled "dance." I don't mean that in a bad way, I enjoy listening to Autechre. And now all the IDM boys are getting sick of being unsexy and they're all going back to the roots. Go listen to Autechre's Gantz Graf ep. It's not danceable but you can hear they're trying. So, IDM is becoming more danceable and sexy. And I like that. I don't want to hurt anyone's feeling with what was said before, I just love over-simplifying.
So, if you didn't understand what I was meaning, Dntel's IDM has a lot of D in it. It's velvet-lined and comfortable. and sexy. 

--Barbara H

/sept 15th 2002/