The Ark - Have You Ever Heard A Song

The Ark premiered a new song from their upcoming album today on Swedish program Dom Kallar Oss Artister (They Call Us Artists - I translated that myself, aren't you proud?), a gorgeous ballad called Have You Ever Heard A Song. What a stirring album closer this would be! It reminds me of some of the great ballads on their first two albums.

And, on a related note, I'm not sure if Ola's ever looked or sounded better.



Also, if you want to hear short clips of two other unfinished songs, the documentary streams here. I recommend the part where Ola conducts the symphony with a french fry. His face cracks me up.

Hoffmaestro & Chraa - Ibracadabra

"Everybody gather 'round"

This is not the type of music I normally post, but I've grown to really love this song. I listen to a lot of Swedish radio (big surprise, I'm sure), and this has been a staple on the airwaves for many months now. I wasn't an initial fan, but the uniqueness of it has grown on me quite a bit. I think that this is what all of the "hip-hop" entries in MF this year have been attempting to duplicate. The sound is HUGE. It begins with some crowd noises and horns (but of course!) and then jumps into a gigantic, festive hook with some great Eastern European and Mexican influences. It's a party song, for sure, with all of the banal "party" lyrics. But it more than succeeds in boosting the energy. In fact, I bet this sounds awesome in a club, really loud. It's not the straight-up pop/rock I usually go for, but every once and awhile it's nice to listen to something a little different.

Hoffmaestro (ft. Chraa) - Ibracadabra  by  alienhits

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the single here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Number Crunching: Where Exactly Did Bosh's Shots Go?

Whenever you rely so much on a single player like how the Raptors rely on Chris Bosh, it's going to be tough to win games. Up to this point in the season, Bosh is averaging 25 pts, 11 reb, 16 shots per game, and 9 free throw attempts. Being pretty gaudy numbers, the Raptors coaching staff have had their hands full trying to make up for their captain's lost stats.

After 6 games without Bosh and going a record of 2-4, to say it's been tough would be an understatement. Had it not been for Jack's heroics in the game against Washington, we could have gone 1-5.

Sure, whatever the coaching staff has decided to go with, it hasn't been a success. But where exactly did Bosh's shots go? Here's a breakdown of 10 Raptors players and their shot averages before Bosh went down, and the amount they're averaging exclusively during this 6 game stretch. (Note: I took into account injuries and games played. Ex: Turk has played 54 games, Calderon has played 45 games, Rasho with 34, etc.)

Bargnani
14.3 shots W/Bosh
13.5 shots WO/Bosh
Diff: -0.8

Turkoglu
9.8 shots W/Bosh
10.5 shots WO/Bosh
Diff: +0.7

Jack
7.6 shots W/Bosh
10.1 shots WO/Bosh
Diff: +2.5

DeRozan
6.7 shots W/Bosh
4.8 shots WO/Bosh
Diff: -1.9

Calderon
8.7 shots W/Bosh
8.7 shots WO/Bosh
Diff: 0

Wright
5.0 shots W/Bosh
7.8 shots WO/Bosh
Diff: +2.8

Weems
5.5 shots W/Bosh
5.4 shots WO/Bosh
Diff: -0.1

Johnson
3.4 shots W/Bosh
4.5 shots WO/Bosh
Diff: +1.1

Evans
2.0 shots W/Bosh
4.6 shots WO/Bosh
Diff: +2.6

Nesterovic
3.4 shots W/Bosh
6.5 shots WO/Bosh
Diff: +3.1

Reading this after having watched each of the last 6 games, you can conclude a few things here right off the bat:

1) The big men of the rotation have all benefited from the absence of Bosh; all except for one individual.
2) That individual - being Bargnani - was the one person most Raps fans had hoped would get more touches. The blame is on both the coaching staff and on Andrea here.
3)As expected, both Turk and Jack have stepped up as leaders, and increased shot attempts come with the role.
4) Without Bosh, the Raptors seem more reluctant to have DeRozan involved in the offensive attack. That, or DeRozan is being timid about things. He also has been in a slump.
5) Wright has gotten more shots, but is forcing a lot of them up.
6) Reggie Evans averaged 2.3 shot per game last season, doubling that is troubling for the Raps.

And there you guys have it. Hopefully CB4 returns for this Friday against the Knicks. That is a MUST WIN in my eyes. It was reported earlier today that Bosh practiced. I'm really looking forward to what this team can do at full strength and with a few games under their belt. Something always seems to get in our way just before we can finally get it rolling while healthy.

On that note, I just wanted to thank everybody who has voted for me in the Raptors Pros. Vs. Joes Debate Tournament at Whotheman.com I'm in the final round of the Joes bracket and would really appreciate the continued support. It would be really fun to possibly talk ball with phdsteve of RaptorsRepublic in the finals. Help me reach that goal by voting here: Should The Raptors Have Made A Move Before The Deadline?


Till next time. Peace!

The Boiling Point

Make that 4 in a row in the "L" column. This mini 2 game road trip out West is something this team is better off sweeping under the rug. Nothing good came out of it. Both games turned into blowouts and only managed to further deflate the confidence we built up before the All-Star break.

You could see it in the Raptors' faces, a boiling point had been reached - again. In many ways, these last two games against Oklahoma City and Houston reminded me of what happened the first time we ran into Atlanta. The entire team was sporting a defeated type of demeanor on the court. They were lazy on defense, they weren't talking, and at times looked like they didn't care. Only until Antoine Wright let his emotions get the best of him, did Toronto finally start to show a little bit of life. But by then, it was much too late.

Yes, this team needs Chris Bosh back, and in a hurry. But the root of the problem is hidden in their defense. It has already regressed back to the horrific form we were accustomed to early in the season. During this 4 game losing streak, the Raptors are giving up a whopping 116 points per game. Without your all-star in the lineup, the only way you can win games is by settling down on defense, and the Raptors have not come even close to doing that.

Before I sign off for the day, let's break down one of the defensive sequences from last night's lost to the Rockets:


Here, the Rockets prepare to execute a pick and roll on the weak side of the floor. Houston uses Scola as the screener and Brooks as the ball handler.



Scola sets the screen and Brooks will make a read, taking whatever the defense gives him. The Raptors can either have the defender (Turkoglu in this case) do two things: 1) Go over the screen and force Brooks to drive to the rim where help/resistance will be provided. 2) Go under the screen and force Brooks to pass or take the open shot.



Turk goes over the screen, thus signalling that the Raptors are committed to forcing Brooks towards the rim where he will have a difficult shot or be cut off and forced to reset/pass the ball off to a teammate.



This is where the Raps show poor execution because there is no expected resistance. DeRozan is late with the help from the strong side. While Bargnani is caught in "No Man's Land". Bargs can't decide whether or not he wants to stay on Scola or cut off Brooks; unfortunately he isn't in position to do either. The Raptors commitment to going over the initial screen means that Brooks should be forced to drive to the rim only to want to pass it off to an open teammate from where the help came from. Bargnani could have slid over to Scola and one of Jack or Rasho could have been the resistance for Brooks; thus forcing a pass to the corner or towards Martin. Or Bargnani could have tried to stop Brooks himself forcing Houston to pass to Scola. You can't stop everything in a perfectly executed pick and roll, but you at least want to control where the offense gets their shot.



Oddly, the Raptors end up having the ENTIRE team converge on Brooks. This (unnecessary) overcommitment is meant to guarantee Brooks takes a tough shot or passes out to an open teammate farther away from the basket. Unfortunately neither happens. There is little to no resistance, mainly because both Rasho and Bargnani were late (should be outside the restricted semi-circle). On top of that, Brooks ends up making the runner near the bucket; even though that's what the Raptors' scheme wanted to prevent the most.

Track-by-Track: Jason Derulo

As soon as Chris Brown's Forever hit it big, I knew that the same swooshy, synthy r&b sound would be ubiquitous in years to come. Now Jason Derulo's made an entire album of the stuff, and despite being pretty concise compared to other albums of this genre, it's certainly a mixed bag.

1. Whatcha Say - It's hard to accurately review this, since so much (aka: the best part) is borrowed from the Imogen Heap song. Without the lengthy sample, this would be pretty boring. Luckily, the hook transforms this into something better. Annoyingly, this begins the trend of Jason singing his name over the beginning of almost every track. 8/10

2. Ridin' Solo - Autotune to the max! Beyond that, though, the uptempo hook is ridiculously catchy. The verses less so. His voice sounds so strange here, but it gets high marks for that chorus. 7/10

3. In My Head - The second single, and one of the strongest tracks on the album. It's derivative in so many ways and sounds like so much already out there, but the melody is dangerously catchy. 8/10

4. The Sky's The Limit - This adheres to that Forever sound I mentioned earlier. Swooping atmospheric synths build up to a chorus that should be stronger than it is. Still, I'm happy to see another reasonably strong uptempo. 7/10

5. What If - Beginning with a ridiculously dramatic spoken intro, this is where the album takes a potentially dangerous turn into the banal. It's an average r&b ballad with one catchy bit in the chorus. Otherwise, completely forgettable and too overproduced for its own good. 5/10

6. Love Hangover - Thankfully, we're back to uptempo territory here. This is really pretty fantastic... probably my favorite track on the album. Everything works here. It's a great combo of dance/synth elements and straightforward r&b. 9/10

7. Encore - The last strong(ish) track of the album (though it begins with him singing is name again). His vocals are pretty strong here and I love the drums in the verses. The chorus is less than spectacular, though, which stops this from being a standout. 6/10

8. Fallen - Boring stuff. The lyrics are stupid and the melody goes nowhere. It's instantly forgettable. 4/10

9. Blind - A big ballad to end the (short) album, and it's nothing to write home about. The chorus is a letdown, yet again. It just stops the song from going anywhere. 4/10

Album Grade: 6.4/10

ÜberTwitter Beta-7 New Version 0.967

Hari ini baru upgrade ÜberTwitter versi Beta-7 yang terakhir dari website resmi ÜberTwitter yakni versi 0.964 ternyata sudah ada lagi versi 0.967 tetapi kali ini bukan dari situs resmi ÜberTwitter. Belum sempat di explore apa aja perubahannya jadi silahkan coba sendiri sesuai link di bawah untuk donlod secara OTA.

ÜberTwitter versi 0.967:
OS4.5 http://bit.ly/d7vzK3
OS4.6 http://bit.ly/d56ar0
OS4.7 http://bit.ly/9ujra3
OS5.0 http://bit.ly/4IsKTv

ÜberTwitter versi 0.964:
http://www.ubertwitter.com/bb/download.php

atau
For 4.2.1 Devices
For 4.3 Devices
For 4.5 Devices
For 4.6 Devices (Bold, new Curves)
For 4.7 Devices (Storm, Tour)
For 5.0 Devices (Storm, Tour, new Bold)

Neo - Higher

"I know it's just a matter of time"

All this Melodifestivalen excitement has reignited my interest in Swedish popster Neo. I rightly deemed his debut album one of the best of 2008, and now it's being reissued with his new track Human Frontier and looks to be on the verge of finally finding the success it deserves. Neo is essentially Sweden's answer to Mika (they could be twins), though I actually find his music more enjoyable. He's every bit as campy and over-the-top, but his songs have a greater electro and club edge to them. Better yet, the melodies are some of the biggest, and most addictive, in pop music today. Leave it to Sweden. Higher opens the album in a typically rousing fashion, sounding like the lovechild of Bodies Without Organs and the Ark. I can't think of higher praise than that for those of us that are Swede-obsessed. The song's an anthem, for sure, and kicks off a string of remarkably consistent, modern pop. Yeah, it's cheesy, but in my world there's no such thing as a guilty pleasure.

Neo - Higher by alienhits

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the first version of the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.