LISTEN NOW: The Naked And Famous, "Higher"

Check it out! New music from The Naked And Famous! Give a listen to "Higher:"



Plus, they'll be hitting the US this fall:

09.21 Tucson, AZ, Rialto Theatre
09.22 San Diego, CA, The Observatory Northpark
09.24 Las Vegas, Life is Beautiful Festival
10.26 Porltand, OR, Roseland Theater
10.27 Seattle, WA, Neptune Theatre
10.28 Vancouver, BC, The Vogue Theatre
10.30 Salt Lake City, UT, The Depot
10.31 Denver, CO, The Ogden
11.02 Minneapolis, MN, First Ave
11.04 Kansas City, MO, Arvest Bank Theater at the Midland
11.05 Milwaukee, WI, The Rave
11.06 Chicago, IL, The Riviera Theatre
11.07 Columbus, OH, Newport Music Hall
11.08 Toronto, ON, Danforth Music Hall
11.10 Boston, MA, Royale
11.12 New York, NY, Hammerstein Ballroom
11.14 Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer
11.15 Washington, DC, Lincoln Theatre
11.17 Baltimore, MD, Rams Head Live
11.18 Richmond, VA, The National
11.19 Norfolk, VA, The Norva
11.20 Raleigh, NC, The Ritz
11.22 Atlanta, GA, Buckhead Theatre
11.23 Nashville, TN, Cannery Ballroom
11.25 Dallas, TX, House of Blues
11.26 Houston, TX, White Oak Music Hall
11.28 Tempe, AZ, The Marquee
11.30 Oakland, CA, The Fox Theater

New Music Fridays: The Naked And Famous, "I Kill Giants"

New Music Fridays: The Naked And Famous, "A Stillness"

First Listen: The Naked And Famous, "Hearts Like Ours"

In Rolling Waves, the sophomore album from The Naked And Famous, hits record stores on September 17th. But here's the first single, "Hearts Like Ours." And just like their first album, it's pretty damn amazing.

First Look: The Naked And Famous, "No Way"

I love this band. I also love their videos. So I'm psyched The Naked And Famous have teamed up again with Special Problems to release the following video for "No Way:"

First Look: The Naked And Famous, "The Sun"

Yesterday, The Naked And Famous decided to live up to the first part of their name and release this awesome and extremely NSFW video for "The Sun:"



Unsolicited advice to up-and-coming bands: More of you should release videos with copious amounts of nudity.

I really should be in charge of a record label.

Review: Passive Me, Aggressive You By The Naked And Famous

Hype is a tricky thing. Not enough of it, and nobody knows you exist. Too much of it, and everybody wishes you didn't. The Naked And Famous have been the recipients of a large amount of hype over the past few months. Released back in September, Passive Me, Aggressive You debuted at number one in the band's home country of New Zealand. The album's first single, "Young Blood," won New Zealand's Single Scroll Award. The band was also nominated for the BBC's Sounds Of 2011 poll and followed that up by winning the Philip Hall Radar Award at the Shockwaves NME Awards last month. But for The Naked And Famous, the hype has been legitimate: they really are worthy of all the praise being heaped upon them.

Passive Me, Aggressive You is a rich, layered affair full of hooks and synths, walls of sounds that don't sound overproduced like a lot of synth-heavy bands. Alternating between the somber vocal stylings of Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith, whose vocal urgency sounds like she might explode if she doesn't get the words out, the band is at its strongest when Xayalith takes the mic. While co-lead vocalist Thom Powers has a fine voice, Xayalith's is so unique, it's almost a crime not to use it any chance you can. The only time Powers leaves his near-whisper behind and shows any desperation in his voice is in the album's closer, "Girls Like You," which also turns out to one of the album's strongest tracks.

While their detractors tend to write them off as MGMT knockoffs due to hits "Young Blood" and "Punching In A Dream," The Naked And Famous wear their influences on their sleeves, as is evident with the Nine Inch Nailsish piano-driven interlude of "The Source" and the bombastic breaks in "Frayed" (both songs' names even sound like they could be NIN songs). The '80s come shining through in a lot of their songs, especially "All Of This" and "Eyes," but nothing tops the of quiet-loud-quiet-loud dynamic of the disc's best track, "No Way."

In this era of a la carte music, it's rare to find an album, much less a debut album, so solid from start to finish. The only misfire on the disc is "A Wolf In Geek's Clothing," which sounds out of place with Passive Me, Aggressive You's dozen other tracks due to its loud industrial stomp that owes more to Nirvana than Nine Inch Nails.

Passive Me, Aggressive You is an excellent debut from The Naked And Famous. Based on the strength of this album, I belive we'll be enjoying them for years to come.

Verdict: Get it now.

The Naked And Famous, "Girls Like You"

From 2011, here's The Naked And Famous with "Girls Like You."

Enjoy!

Jessie J Gets Naked And Famous

There is nothing NOT awesome about this.

Jessie J, who will be the musical guest on this week's Saturday Night Live, covers "Young Blood" by The Naked And Famous, who will be releasing their debut album in the US on Tuesday (and who we interviewed back in early February).

Sunglasses On Airplanes: Our Interview With The Naked And Famous

The Naked And Famous

If you haven't yet heard of The Naked And Famous, you will. They're poised for world domination. Having already conquered their native New Zealand with a #1 album and a #1 single, the band was also nominated for the BBC's Sounds of 2011 and have been named one of NME's Bands of 2011.

In March, they're setting their sights on America. They'll release their debut album, Passive Me, Aggressive You, on March 15th and will also be playing SXSW that week. On April 11th, they'll begin their first North American tour, a twenty-one date affair that will have the band traveling across Canada and the United States.

Last night, David Beadle, the bassist for The Naked And Famous, was kind enough to sit down and talk with me about the band, music videos, his musical influences, Nine Inch Nails, jeans, Andrew W.K., life on the road, and rock star moments.

Hi, David. How are you doing tonight?
I'm good, thanks. It's the middle of the day here. I just had lunch which consisted of chocolate and iced coffee, so I'm feeling really healthy.