Good Times Ahead, the eponymous debut LP from Miami electronic duo
GTA, is a party of a different sort. With such a title, one might expect an all-out hedonistic EDM assault. However, the album ends up being the soundtrack for sophisticated revelers. Split between languid R&B vocalists and young rappers,
Good Times Ahead sustains its deep groove from start to finish. On the hip-hop side,
Vince Staples brings the heat to album standout "Little Bit of This," a tick-tocking hypnotizer featuring his breathless rapping, while
Iamsu provides the hardest hit on the raucous "Contract." Backed by the
Imogen Heap-esque harmonies of Alyssa Palmer and Jessica Higgs, Philly rapper
Tunji Ige makes a turn as a more-interesting
Drake on "Feel It." Among the smooth soulful numbers, the woozy "Get It All" -- a collaboration with
Wax Motif that features Australian singer Kaelyn Behr on vocals -- and "True Romance" -- featuring Dominican singer
Jarina de Marco -- are seductive standouts.
Good Times Ahead is rounded out by purer '90s-influenced house ("Heartbeat" and "In My Nature") to further
GTA's "death to genres" mantra. There's no doubt that these are all body-movers, but the pair -- Julio Mejia and Matthew Van Toth -- draw upon such a variety of influences that the party they purvey never gets boring. ~ Neil Z. Yeung