This week, more of the music I'm listening to – some Kiwi stuff, but I'll start with my current fave, Benji Hughes.

I've been mentioning him for a while now, and it would have been sooner but I had certain difficulties tracking his album down. Not that it was hard in the big scheme of things, but it was damn near impossible to get in Tauranga. Lemme tell you the story.
I first heard some songs on Nick Bollinger's excellent National Radio programme The Sampler. Nick is a smart and knowledgeable chap and I always listen to his opinions. Benji Hughes album, A Love Extreme, is a double CD set, so Nick played eight or nine songs and they were all interesting. Next day I went into Tracs to buy it.
Tracs, slightly to my surprise, didn't have a copy. After all, Nick spoke of this guy as though he was The Next Big Thing. But they were happy to order it. After a few weeks waiting I went back to check - no sign of it. We did some digging and found that it comes to New Zealand via a company called Elite. Tracs contacted them.
A month later – nothing. This seems to be the way sometimes in this (musically speaking) half-assed country. A company like Elite (in these 'hard economic times”) cuts down on the number of copies they import, and only have enough to service the Auckland shops. Tauranga and all the other 'little places” miss out, sometimes indefinitely.
That's pathetic. I won't be shedding a tear when these useless importers put themselves out of business. After two months of fruitless waiting I ordered it from Amazon in the US. It arrived in four days and cost under NZ$30.
So good luck actually getting this, but if you do there are many pleasures in store.
Because I love this album! Occasionally things come along and blow you away. In the last decade, for me, that has meant Beck's Odelay, Alabama 3's Exiles on Coldharbour Lane, the White Stripes' Elephant, and now this one - albums that immediately make you go out and buy everything else the artist has done.
No need for that with Benji Hughes since it his first album. I don't know much about him. He comes from North Carolina. He's got a big straggly beard and is rather overweight (as the one live clip on www.aloveextreme.com amply shows). And the music?
Well, it's modern pop. There are hints of many things, from Bacharach to Beck, but Benji is his own man, writing lyrics than run from the fun pop of 'Tight Tee Shirt” to the teen heartbreak of 'You Stood Me Up”, delving into dark beauty on 'Girl in the Tower” and getting plain silly (in the best way possible) for 'The Mummy”. There are touches of dance beats and a million and one interesting sounds. In fact, being a double CD, there is much to digest and all of it strikes me as kinda brilliant. Can't wait to see what he does next.
On the local front, I got the new Hot Club Sandwich DVD and a wonderful thing it is too. I know there are many Tauranga fans of this group of swing cats from the capital, and they will be well pleased by this record of the band and guests playing at Old St Paul's Church in Wellington.
If you don't know them, Hot Club Sandwich are one of the many 'Hot Club” groups in the world now, tracing their musical roots back to Django Reinhardt and Stefan Grappelli's Hot Club of Paris band in the 1930s. But, like any group, the HCS guys bring their own sensibilities to proceeding, with a smattering of blues, country and rockabilly influences popping up..
The DVD is called Get Sandwiched (it's available at Tracs) and features 21 songs from singer/guitarist Andrew London, bassman Terry Crayford and wind multi-instrumentalist Nils Olsen. Most are original and focus on the band's funny modern songs, often humorous critiques of aspects of modern life (coffee culture, i-pods, wedding bands, electrical appliances). All are accessible and immaculately played, with added assistance coming from Christchurch guitar legend Bob Heinz and Wellington harp maestro Neil Billington.
If you like Hot Club Sandwich I can't recommend this too highly. If you don't, give it a try – these guys really are a class act.