Rock finds a new source of grunge-like intensity with Thought Transfer, the brainchild of the group’s front-man, Bob Katsiaficas. The EP, “Another Mistake,” showcases the group’s insane energy and wide variety of skills that should appeal to any rock lover.

The EP dives right into fast-paced action with the first track, “Get Up,” which could be best described as something like the Foo Fighters with the amount of energy found on the song and the Dave Grohl-esque lyrical performance of Katsiaficas. The song also features an intense guitar solo that supplements the rest of the track wonderfully without overtaking the sound.

The title track, “Another Mistake,” follows and does not let up on the radical nature of the EP. A monster guitar riff kicks off the track with a drum intro that infiltrates listeners’ senses. Accompanied by the unique style of vocals that Katsiaficas has, it makes for a solid song that seems like it comes from the ‘90s grunge scene in Seattle.

The third and final track of the album, “Turn Around,” is an emotionally charged song in which Katsiaficas finds himself pleading with the main character to “turn around” and not go through with some regrettable actions. The song features cryptic guitar riffs and a powerful drum performance that reaches optimal levels of intensity. Through these tracks, Thought Transfer is able to transcend their primary influences, such as Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Tool and Neil Young, while adding its own unique perspective on the world and what it has in store for all of us.

Katsiaficas created Thought Transfer after writing and performing under various incarnations more than 15 years and amidst a bunch of other new material. His works include Acrobat, Kat, B Kats and Thousand Days, but he has put a lot of energy into Thought Transfer, and it shows in the group’s new EP.

Katsiaficas recruited the talents of Annie Hoffman to play bass and the organ, and his fellow Thousand Days band mate Matt Hayden to play the drums. When Katsiaficas is not shredding with Thought Transfer, he still somehow finds the time to play guitar and write all the music for Thousand Days. The group recorded “Another Mistake” in its hometown of Brighton, Mass., at Zippah Recording.

Look for “Another Mistake” to invade the KSLC airwaves in the coming weeks.

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James Testa/KSLC 90.3 FM
James Testa can be reached at kslcmusic@gmail.com.

When it’s time to change things up in the bedroom, games and other fun activities are great things to try. And with so many options, everyone is bound to find something they love.

A trip to Spencer’s or an online search will yield a variety of games for couples, gag games and group games.

Erotic dice have intimate body parts on one and actions to do on the other.

A roll of two dice will tell what action to perform on what body part.

There’s even a glow-in-the-dark version, which could require you to feel each other to find the body part.

Truth or dare is fun and a good way to get to know your partner. Of course, truth will uncover some questions, but dare will also tell how open one will be with sex and what they like.

There are pre-made cards with questions, or you can come up with your own questions and dares.

There is also a tower version, like Jenga, where you take turns pulling out a block and answering a question or doing the dare.

For the creative artists, there is body paint. This is totally open-ended. It can be used to trace around the body.

This is a sensual way to get to know your partner’s body. Getting to know one another’s bodies in an intimate way like this can be a satisfying bonding experience.

Of course, everyone knows about strip poker. You can go by the standard rules or adjust them to fit your own needs.

This can be done with two people or a group of friends who are comfortable enough with each other.

Generally, strip poker is played with a five-card draw and, in place of money, an item of clothing is the bet.

Decided by the players, clothes can be taken back or they can be lost for good.

An alternative for couples is betting sexual favors. This can be anything the two agree on and are comfortable with.

Some bets could be positions, strip teases, lap dances, a room to have sex in or something new you want to try with your partner.

Technology can provide these games and others right at your fingertips. There are apps for the dice game, truth or dare, Kamasutra for positions, sex roulette for how and where to have sex, and many others.

Decide what you want to accomplish and have a game night!

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Bailey can be reached at linfieldreviewbailey@gmail.com.

Don’t worry, “The Avenger’s” movie review is on the way!

“The Avengers” is a big deal, not just because it scored an 11 on a one to 10 scale of awesomeness, but because a movie with continuity akin to the comic books it’s based on has never been done before. And based on its success, it could change movies forever.

If you want to know why or disagree, email me, but for now, I will say that for that reason alone, “The Avengers” is a movie worth watching, so, go watch it!

But, if like me, you don’t have the money to continuously go out to the cinemas, then why not stay home and rent a movie?

With Red Box, Nicholson Library and Movie Time cheap and close by, there are a number of classic movies worth spending a night with.

Today, I want to look at a popular film that you have probably heard of but have probably never seen.  A film starring, who some call, the greatest band that ever lived.  A musical as colorful as it is brilliant.  That’s right, 1968’s “Yellow Submarine.”

“Yellow Submarine” was by far the most successful film of The Beatles’ cinematic escapades.

Unlike the three movies before it, “HELP!,” “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Magical Mystery Tour,” and the documentary after it, “Let it Be,” “Yellow Submarine” is animated, and in terms of “far-out-ness,” this movie manages to be the wildest younger sibling in a family of Johnny Knoxvilles.

The style is sort of reminiscent of something you would see as a transition in a Monty Python movie, only less realistic and about a hundred times more colorful.

Though this style remains constant throughout the movie, the film takes numerous visual twists and turns to the tune of classic Beatles songs to stimulate the viewer’s imagination and tell its story.

The emphasis on the colorful art style and music is necessary, too, because the story to “Yellow Submarine” is a lot less straightforward than most movies, and like the characters themselves, the movie saunters through the plot and setting, care-free and with ease.

In fact, the optimistic direction the film takes is possibly what makes the film so fun to watch.  Animated John, Paul, George and Ringo, are even more lovable and witty than a Beatles fan would hope they would be and the central conflict never seems to get them down.

The film exudes all of those positive feelings and concepts that most associate with the ‘60s hippie movement, love, peace, acceptance, and that certain laid back attitude and humor.

When the movie came to an end, I was left with a heartened feeling in my chest and an encouraging feeling in my head. So I have to recommend “Yellow Submarine” to everyone and deem it required viewing for any Beatles fan.  See this and save your money for “The Avengers!”

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Ian Storey/For the Review
Ian  Storey can be  reached at linfieldreviewculture@gmail.com.

The Linfield Chamber Orchestra opened its final concert of the season with the rich sounds of a Felix Mendelssohn piece. But it was the second half of the concert that really stunned the audience.

The concert was titled “Reformation and Consolation” and took place May 4 at McMinnville’s First Baptist Church. The church was packed to the point where it was hard to find seats, and the ushers ran out of programs.

The concert’s first half featured Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, “Reformation.” The strong chords and majestic sound got an enthusiastic applause out of the audience.

After an intermission, the Linfield Choir joined the orchestra onstage for the second half and the main feature of the concert, which was the Mozart Requiem.

“Singing with an orchestra was quite cool,” sophomore Gülfem Torunlar said. “At first, I was afraid they’d be so loud we would have to sing even louder to be heard. I thought they sounded great, and they told us we sounded great, so we had a good dynamic between us.”

Sophomore Lauren Pak said in an email that the orchestra typically performs one concert a year with the Linfield Choir.

“It is a good experience because, individually and as a whole, we have to be extremely aware of the voices and instruments and make sure that everything is balanced properly so that everyone can be heard at the appropriate time,” Pak said. “For some movements, I felt prepared, but others were exceedingly difficult for me to play because of the rapid tempo. This orchestra has always had a high level of repertoire and the music for this concert maintained that standard.”

Before they began the requiem, the conductor of the Linfield Chamber Orchestra, Michael Gesme, introduced two of the student musicians, seniors Don DeFrang and Amanda Summers. He also gave recognition to Anna Song, assistant professor of music and director of choirs, for her work with the choir.

“The most influential person is the one you don’t see; it’s the person who prepared the choir,” Gesme announced to the audience. “And this is, bar none, the best-prepared choir I’ve ever worked with.”

As the requiem began, it was obvious that the audience felt the same way. The choir had an energy and movement that kept everyone’s attention on them, and there was a tension in the air after every movement, as if the audience was just longing to applaud.

Torunlar said although the choir felt reasonably sure of themselves the evening of the performance, they had to do a lot of things last-minute because of the choir tour schedule.

“It was quite stressful,” Torunlar said. “We learned three of the movements before the choir tour, and the rest after the tour. We were like ‘wow, we have a whole book to learn in a month.’ I’m glad we pulled it off.”

The Mozart Requiem featured five soloists. Sophomore Jaimie McDonald and senior Kayla Wilkens sang soprano, senior Jen Boston sang contralto, senior Logan Freitas sang the tenor solos and senior Jeremy Moll sang bass.

Torunlar said the choir had to put in a great deal of time and work into practicing.

“Usually, we have half-hour sectional practices, but then we started doing 45-minute sectionals and then hour sectionals,” Torunlar said. “I feel like we practiced so much, if we would have practiced it any more, we would have gotten bored. As it was, there was some nostalgia after we finished it.”

The requiem’s final chord was so strong that the audience sat for a moment in awed silence, broken only by a hushed “Wow!” from one audience member, before bursting into a thunderous standing ovation.

“It was a really cool experience, and I’m glad I got to sing it,” Torunlar said. “[Song] kept telling us groups don’t usually do this requiem because it’s so challenging. That felt epic. We felt so tough, doing this thing that not many choirs do.”

Pak said she thought the concert went extremely well overall.

“It is the best the LCO has ever sounded, and I am so grateful to have been a part of such a great performance,” Pak said.

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Sharon Gollery/Culture editor
Sharon Gollery can  be reached at linfieldreviewculture@gmail.com.

Oregon author Molly Gloss gives a speech about her novel, “The Jump-Off Creek,” for the eighth annual “Mac Reads” celebration April 30 in Nicholson Library. Kate Straube/Photo editor

Linfield and McMinnville community members gathered in the Nicholson Library on April 30 to listen to award-winning author and fourth-generation Oregonian, Molly Gloss, speak about her novel “The Jump-Off Creek” for the eighth annual “Mac Reads” celebration.

The theme and discussion of the event were, what Gloss called, “the literature of the west and where women were left out of it.”

Gloss began the event with an excerpt from “The Jump-Off Creek,” the story of the widowed homesteader Lydia Bennet Sanderson and her survival in the backcountry of Oregon in 1895.

Called “a classic of its time” by the Los Angeles Times, it was the winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award and the Oregon Book Award, as well as, the finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for American Fiction. Gloss was also the recipient of a Whiting Writers Award in 1996.

Gloss sought to write a novel that provided a different perspective of history, one that was different than the typical stories of male conquest and cowboys at the forefront of the western backcountry.

“That’s not the real history of the west,” Gloss said. “The real history of the west was a community and women were at the center of it.”

Gloss’s interest in the true depiction of the lives of women made for the strong woman lead in “The Jump-Off Creek,” who embodies the same endurance and grit as the male characters.

Gloss grew up in rural Oregon in the ’50s and developed an appreciation for western novels early on, reading her father’s collection of “cowboy” novels.

“I’d been a Western reader since I was 12—it was my dad’s favorite genre,” said Gloss on her website.

However, she noticed that women were consistently “reluctant pioneers.”

“I wrote ‘The Jump-Off Creek’ because it was the book I couldn’t find in the libraries,” Gloss said.

The Portland State University alumna wrote the novel in just two years, while she was both a mother and clerk.

“Still, and yet, my life as a writer began with motherhood,” Gloss said on her website.

Although writing was never an initial career path for Gloss, who went into the workforce as a teacher and later a clerk, she became a full time writer in 1980 and has since published four full-length adult fictions as well as a collection of short stories.

Gloss resides in Portland.

For more information about Gloss and her works, visit www.mollygloss.com.

“Mac Reads” is a partnership of Friends of the McMinnville Public Library, the Linfield Nicholson Library, the Linfield English Department and Third Street Books, which make it possible for the community to have authors, such as Gloss, come to the annual readings.

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Chrissy Shane/Staff writer
Chrissy  Shane  can be reached at linfieldreviewculture@gmail.com.