Music to Impress my Kid's Friends?


Lately, my college aged children have been bringing friends over to here my system and I would love to buy a few great sounding cds that are currently popular. I obviously have lots of quality music to play but it might have more impact on the kids if they were more familiar with the music. I bought the Adele cd thinking that might do the trick but was I wrong. I'd even invest in some current vinyl if I knew they would were outstanding from a recording standpoint. Thanks
grandpoobah
Any My Morning Jacket release, Fleet Foxes Debut record, Volbeat,(hard rockin) Modest mouse,(Incredible) 311 Evolver, Torche Meanderthal, Arcade Fire, Clutch, Boards of Canada, Any Spoon or Wilco record

You could always pop on Larks tounge in aspic by King Crimson or Trout mask Replica. Better yet "Uncle Meat" from Mothers of Invention
I would get Jack White's 'Blunderbuss'. The mastering is amazing as is the music itself. The variety of instrumentation is impressive to say the least. I would imagine it would appeal to most ages. It starts off heavy as in rock and then transcends into a bluesey and countryish rock. It's really quite amazing and I feel in the rock category it's the best I've heard since Neil Young's Harvest Moon. I'm more of a jazz guy but on the advice of my local audio shop, I bought the Jack White and it's been a real treat.
Forgot some music you might want to use: Fleet Foxes, Death Cab For Cutie,Arcade Fire, Bon Iver. I second The Decemberists. And I usually find that AC/DC's "Back In Black" will impress just about anyubody except the stodgy.
And just how is the hi-end audio torch going to be passed if the current generation isnt exposed to music they can relate to on a great system??? Anything that could inculcate not only a love of good music but a love of high end audio is a win/win in my book and may just keep high end audio alive and kicking. Grandpoobah, you go, dude!!!
My one son and his friends (mid 20's ) have really latched on to the Wood Brothers.Great band
We are not big rap fans here but my kids like:

Damien Jurado "Maraqopa"

Jack White "Blunderbuss"

Frank Ocean "Channel Orange"

Winterpills "All My Lovely Goners"

Real Estate "Days"

Atlas Sound "Parallax"

Cults

Yuck

Heartless Bastards "Broken Arrow"
How 'bout spinning something by a little quartet from Liverpool -- The Beatles, I think they were called. I'd bet the kids would know tons of the songs -- but never would have heard 'em sounding so good.
Nice to see Marty taking some time away from his nightly game of Frogger to share with us fella's :)
OT (sorry).

So, after reading Richard's (typically interesting) post here, I asked myself one important question:

What exactly is "Chiptune" ?

A quick visit to Wikipedia and voila!, a chiptune sample track. Now, this is good stuff: Old Atari video game sounds stitched into music. Alas, I have no unusually well-recorded chiptune selections to recommend to the OP. OTOH, I feel just thismuch better informed on the musical issues of the day than I did 5 minutes ago.

Marty

Marty
The Decemberists (Pacific Northwest folk influence)

The Fratellis (Scottish guitar driven rock)

Regina Specktor (Russian born singer songwriter, classically trained pianist)

The Wombats (Australian pop, more my daughter's than her older brother)

The above are some examples of what my recently graduated from college son and his high school age sister are listening to these days
You'll only find the answer to that by talking to your kids/friends. This forum sure as heck is not the spot! These threads pretty much cycle through the same music discussions over and over. As for what younger folks are into today, that is a very wide range, even within genre's it's a wide range. Say a kids into electro stuff...they could be into Trance, D&B , big room stuff or they could be into techno, or dub techno or minimal techno or ambient or drone or chiptune or Dubstep, UK Garage or whatever and one who is into one side of that stuff prolly hates the other. They could be into folk/Nu folk or they could be into garage or punk or metal or screamo or straight indie rock or R&B or rap but just because a kid likes rap doesn't mean he likes all rap! One may enjoy stuff like Danny Brown and those cats but will hate mainstream stuff like Lil Wayne and the like. Pitchfork record reviews is a decent place to get a general feel for the pulse and they will review 5 different genres per day and a kid who is into one (or one small segment of one) likely will not be into the other. Point of all this mess is you will ONLY know the answer to that by asking the kid. Heck, he/she may be into 50's jazz or classical or even classic rock...who knows. I know if someone tried to pick music out for me based on my age/culture they would miss very wide:)
I find that quality music crosses generations. I like many of the "jamband" type modern bands that reference Neil Young, Dylan, Earl Scruggs, Grateful Dead, and others. You might try Railroad Earth's self titled recent release. They are a very talented bluegrass band with lots of jazz/rock and roll influences. My Morning Jacket is more rock oriented, but very popular on the touring circuit. At Dawn, It Still moves, and Z are my favorites. Big Moon Ritual by the Chris Robinson Brotherhood is an excellent recent release with lots of Grateful Dead influences. The new Gallactic album is fun. You can sample all of these on amazon. You may also go to Jambands.com and look at the college radio top 25 lists as a source for exploration. At the end of the day, they may be more impressed with some of the music already in your collection that inspired artists of today and frankly, you may discover an exciting new talent during your search. It is important to know where you are coming from to better appreciate where you are going.
I'm not very interested in "impressing" anyone who listens to music at my place, so I don't get caught up in that kind of thing. I put the system together for personal enjoyment of recordings that I like. But I can say that if guests want to hear some music on the system, I ask them what kind of music they like best. I show them the many records I have and invite them to pick some out, if they want. If they would rather to play their own mp3's, CDs, or vinyl records, I invite them to do so.
IMO-If th "kids" havent heard a TT, they will like it. Go old school with them and play some Stones, Zep or Clash. You migh be surprised that they already know the words.
A sense of humor goes a long way if you're trying to connect with the young folks, lighten up.
Tpreaves, I have no idea where that comment came from but I take offense to that notion. My kids friends have shown a genuine interest in analog and high quality sound. One of my daughters friend, John, had never seen a record player in action and he was just amazed and enthralled at the technology. They love hearing the clarity, resolution and deep and wide sound stage of a great recording.

The reason for this post was to find great recordings that they would more identify with so they can better appreciate what a quality sound system can do with well recorded music. My goal with this post was to eliminate the trial and error of buying quality recordings of current music.

Lastly, I would question your own morals if you read something "creepy" into this post. Seriously, wtf!

Thanks to everyone else for the normal, music oriented responses.
Irmin Schmidt & Kumo(trans and piano virtuoso)
Fourplay "Between The Sheets" :-)
Can "Monster Movie" -pioneers of electronic music. This album of early 70's sounds more like modern alternative rock with elements of r&r and punk.
Any age group would ADORE Fela Kuti's afro beat (did couple of his tunes at DJ stand and got FASCINATING crowd energy!)
Jah Wobble and Invaders of the Heart released two albums "Take me to God" and "Rising Above the Bedlum". Both of them feature drum-bass music and mixing styles from salsa and regae to alternative rock.
Why do you want to impress your kid's friends? That sounds kind of creepy to me.
Can't say I've heard a Grand Funk song since college, but my opinion hasn't changed. However, it's a big world; there is something for everyone.
Your actions are bound to get the kids to move back in when they finish college. Hey, after listening to 'quality' sound why would they want anything else.
Wouldn't your own kids be the best source of what they and their close friends are listening to?

Kids today are no different than we were - different groups, whether high school kids, college age or older, like different artists. I know what I thought of Grand Funk Railroad in 1970 but knew some others who loved them.

So, if you're trying to impress a group of students, go to the source. This forum isn't it. ;-)
The new Gaslight Anthem album "Handwritten" is indeed excellent.

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals-"Grace Potter & the Nocturnals" is a very good and popular album with the college crowd. Try "Paris" and "Medicine" with the volume turned up a little.

One of the albums I pull out for the kids is Kid Rock's "Rock and Roll Jesus". Be careful, there are a couple of "nasty", (read this as old school Kid Rock rap) songs, but play "Amen", "All Summer Long", "Rock & Roll Jesus" and "Blue Jeans and a Rosary". Guaranteed to put a smile on their faces.
One of the twenty something's I work with who is in the music biz is raving about Gaslight Anthem's latest album, which just got released. Haven't heard it, so I can't comment.
Last month's flavor was Alabama Shakes- I wasn't terribly impressed.
Albert Porter here turned me onto Black Dub, which is a killer sounding record, unfortunately both vinyl copies I bought were warped. It's a little like Black Keys, in the sense that it is primitive, but the producer -who is in the band -is world class, and the music is more interesting. Good female vocals too.
Turn them onto something that will blow them away from the past- Jaws drop when I fire up 'In the Wee Wee Hours' from Junior Wells (with Buddy Guy)'s Hoodoo Man Blues on the 45 rpm reissue.
Twenty-somethings dig Neil Young- Greatest Hits on Classic sounds fab; so does Massey Hall.
The other album that blew a couple of youngsters away during a listening session a few months ago was an old copy of Spirit's Dr. Sardonicus, it is not an audiophile quality record, but the mix of acid rock, fusion, and good old rock and roll is hard to resist at any age.
I'm sure others will have favorites too, but stay away from Montovani, Lawrence Welk and Steve and Edie.