If you haven’t heard of The Naked and Famous, you must have literally been living under a rock for the last 6 months; or, at least, living in an area that doesn’t pick up Triple J radio.

The New Zealand five-piece have gone from virtual unknowns to “next big things” in the space of mere months, their brand of dreamy, shimmering synth-pop catapulting them from the confines of their homeland and firmly into the sights of the world at large.

Sounding like the electro-fuelled love-child of Passion Pit and MGMT, the Kiwi quintet have exploded in recent times after a string of high-profile endorsements from global music bibles. The British NME have been among the band’s biggest fans, recently naming The Naked and Famous as one of their ten “Stars of 2011” in their annual “New Music” issue, alongside The Vaccines, Brother and James Blake; NME summed up the group as “enraptured velveteen synth-pop wonderment”. The UK rag’s annual year-starting issue has helped kick-start the careers of Bloc Party, Foals and Kings of Leon, so TNAF are certainly in illustrious company in this sense.

Their debut LP, “Passive Me Aggressive You,” shot to #1 in NZ album charts upon its’ release, and signalled the arrival of the biggest thing out of New Zealand since Flight of the Conchords and Lord of The Rings. A sprawling work that takes in 80s-tinged electro and psychedelic dream-pop, all wrapped in a youthful indie coating, it’s the pumping soundtrack to an endless summer. You’ve surely heard ‘Youngblood’ and ‘Punching In A Dream’ (if not, the opening line of this review must pertain to you), but these merely scratch the surface of the sonic scope that these Kiwi’s explore.

While their recorded output treads a line between chilled out synthpop and hands-in-the-air dance-rock, it is their foray into a touch of hard-edged electroclash on album standout “A Wolf In Geek’s Clothing” that best represents their live show. Currently tearing around the country as part of the Big Day Out, the group have been attracting huge crowds despite their festival-opening timeslot of 11am. Their live show injects a fiery attitude and passion into the songs, giving the already killer tracks a harder, faster, louder incarnation. Selling out both their Melbourne and Sydney sideshows this week – with the hastily-added second shows also exhausting ticket allocations in hasty fashion – it goes to show that The Naked and Famous are one of few similar acts that can perform their recorded material live on stage; in some cases, even better than on their recorded versions. With an extensive touring schedule over the coming months, including a tour alongside Foals and Freelance Whales in the USA as well as a headlining tour of their own in the UK, it won’t be long before the rest of the world experiences the sheer euphoria and joy of a Naked and Famous show.

Keep an eye on these guys; before long, we’ll be adopting them as honorary Aussies.

The NZites agreed to keep an exclusive Big Day Tour diary for us in which the old adage ‘what happens on tour, stays on tour’ will not apply. We shall reveal all next week!