The year was 1994. Something was mutating in the music from the Bladerunner-esque city at the top of the Mid-West: the hitherto string-laden albeit abstracted futurism of techno was corroding down to something which was closer to the frame of its chassis. It was this LP - and it became a marker of a turning point in techno music at least. In the context of a new millennium some newish things become apparent: 1. Some of it is not very 'minimal'. ['Internal Empire' is actually a lot starker and sinister than this LP, not to decry 'Minimal Nation' for *not* having those qualities to any great extent.] Also, don't be surprised by the odd lush pad sequence to well up over the trackiness. 2. It's _extremely_ funky. If you know the theory of 'on-the-one', Test it here. This is black future Funk with a capital 'F'. 3. Even though it doesn't really sound dated in 2009 - it's very evidently from a different era: the analogue atmosphere is very palpable. You can almost smell it. [You can certainly hear the hum of the cheapo recorder this was finished on]. And there's circumstantial evidence everywhere of the VCOs and diodes used to make this LP - one track is titled 'SH101'. In my view, this remains a milestone - don't miss it [again].