the term album is more of a technical term when applied to techno releases, it was a term coined alongside long player or LP i believe, and its simply stuck... when i hear a techno "album" that really is just the artist in their normal vein but with 10 or 12 tracks then its simply a long player to me, an LP as opposed to an EP

its very very hard for an established artist, in techno, to produce an "artist" album without just sounding like what they normally do, and i really cant think of any work by techno artists that is on the other end of the spectrum and can be percieved as an artist album, but would love any examples of course...

saying that i still love "Places", but to me its just another Joey Beltram LP, i dont view it in the same light as id view say my Velvet Underground albums