Mammoth Life / Paper Airplanes / Hawley Shoffner / LJWorld.com

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If you went, you might have heard

Details

Categories: Pop, Rock, Singer/songwriter
Event posted: Dec. 25, 2008
Last updated: Aug. 30, 2009

Event details

Friday, Feb. 6, 2009, 10 p.m.
The Jackpot Music Hall, 943 Mass., Lawrence
Cost: $5 - $7
Age limit: 18+

Mammoth Life appeared on the Lawrence scene during last November's Farmers Ball-a long-delayed debut for a band that actually formed four years ago. The group's first album "Kaleidoscopic Art Pop" was already completed by the time the seven-piece outfit hit the stage. What began as a collaboration between Nicholas Goss and Elizabeth Mead has evolved into a friendly collective of musicians, artists, filmmakers, poets and clothing designers who share a headstrong vision to craft cheery chamber-pop music and inject a little more sunshine into this crazy, crazy life. The Mammoths will emerge from hibernation this month to play two shows and preview tracks from their forthcoming spaghetti-western opus "An American Movement." The recently hitched Goss and Mead brought two new songs along for our podcast, which also features half a dozen cuts of their earlier musics. Wichita's Paper Airplanes jam a joyful version of contemporary psychedelic-tinged indie rock. They probably like the same bands you like - The Arcade Fire, Built to Spill, The Flaming Lips - but they only bear a slight resemblence to any of the above. The group released its debut album "Boyhood" in 2005 and re-released it in 2007, garnering praise from Pitchfork Media and Spin. Hawley Alexandra Shoffner can surely be forgiven for tallying up late fees at the local library. Her eloquent songs for piano and ukulele often take inspiration from biographies and historical events, but they’re artfully timeless in their dedication to good melodies and spirited performances. Her articulate piano playing may surprise folks who only know her as the ukulele-toting madam who dispensed the competition in the 2008 Farmer’s Ball. The Wichita native also wields a mean accordion and a temperamental kazoo. Listen to our podcast interview with Shoffner for a preview.