Waldo From Cincinnati and Homage CVG are two producers from the Cincinnati collective known as Fort Ancient Records. We had just heard from Homage in August, when he released an LP by the name of Hacienda. The two had both been working as part of the whole collective as well, who have been releasing a series of EPs called Fort Ancient Airlines. The two first worked as a duo last year, when they released an album called Grocery Choppin’. Now they release their sophomore effort, Used Cars.

Used Cars has a loose theme with some audio clips tying into the idea of a used car lot, but in large part the theme is inessential to the overall enjoyment of the album. It is a mostly instrumental album, with contributions from Donwill, Jermiside, and Ali Miller to spice up the proceedings. The majority of the album is just about the really creative sample flipping, layering, and rhythmic interplay that Waldo and Homage are able to come up with over the course of fourteen tracks. There are plenty of great vintage samples, bringing in elements of blues, soul, jazz, funk, and beyond, all to create a really intriguing mix of midtempo beats that will get your head nodding. It might not blow you away at first, since there aren’t any huge singles or hooks to album, but if you pay a little bit closer attention, you’ll start to notice all sorts of compelling musical ideas at play that are just working on a more subtle layer. There’s a lot of movement to the album, and Homage and Waldo put in the work to keep you on your toes as they keep the grooves going while managing to make the melodic side of things continuously developing.

Used Cars is the type of album to sneak up on you, but once you realize the level of work that Waldo and Homage are putting in, you’ll find yourself listening to it again and again to uncover all of the layers to their production. It’s not perfect, but these two are digging deep and making some instrumental hip hop that is complex and funky.