If you make only one CD purchase this month, make it this one. Richie Hawtin is the man behind Plastikman (as well as F.U.S.E. and Cybersonik) and has almost singlehandedly defined the genre of Detroit acidic techno on the legendary Plus 8 Records .  Hawtin has taken his signature minimalism and turned everything way down, so that the beats and pulses and faint ticks sound both very far away and as if coming from inside the listener's body.   The songs contain only a few elements that emerge very slowly from the depths and then repeat throughout the song, and Hawtin builds startlingly emotional tableau with these geometric constructions.  Almost Zen-like in their awareness of what is not there, the tracks ask the listener to make the necessary connections.  Background music--yes; inconsequential--hell no. "Contained" starts things off with a galloping beat and a gentle synth, while "Consume" glides in on an alternating current beat.  Perhaps the most haunting track is "Inside," which toys with the comfort of 4/4 time such that you're never quite sure if the beat is getting just a little bit faster each time.  The title track is absolutely perfect--the ten-minute-plus length of these latter two tracks allow Hawtin to fully explore the ambient territories of his soundscapes.  This album is now on my "Desert Island List."  I can't praise it enough.  

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