Multicast

On Sunday evenings, Jefferson Holland is known as Uncle Jeff, purveyor of all things rustic and Americana on Radio 1190’s popular show, Route 78 West. But his obsessions run farther afield, as evidenced by Bahian Coastal Hwy, the second full-length by his project, Multicast. A collaboration with fellow members of the Obliq Recordings collective, the disc strays both sonically and geographically from Holland’s usual stomping grounds. Nary a twang is to be found. Instead, Bahian bobs on a transatlantic current that infuses tropical Brazilian rhythms with the motorik pulse of classic and contemporary German electronic music: to Rococo Rot’s processed psychedelics, Laub’s deep, free-floating bass, even the skittering minimalism of late-’70s Cluster. The sound itself is taut and lean, with melodies poking like bones through a skin of ambience, voice samples and organic analogue synths. As enveloping and compelling as Bahian is, though, Holland had better not drop any of it on Route 78 West — he just might get lynched.