The Madden Season
Hello everyone, thank you to my 13 subscribers, that is very encouraging. I was pretty bored this week so this is extremely long, don’t think I will always go this hard but hopefully you like it. This week in music, Alanis Morissette released an album, which you probably didn’t hear about and Jessy Lanza released an album, which you honestly might’ve? I talk about these things. Also, I played a bunch of Madden and wrote about football (lol).
The Zeitgeist?
I said last week that I wanted to weigh in on some of the biggest stories in music, and also turn people on to more “under-reported” music. Obviously last week, everyone was talking about Taylor Swift because she is probably the most famous American pop star besides Beyoncé so I wrote about that. I also wrote about Nana Grizol who’ve been discussed comparatively little. This week I want to talk about Jessy Lanza and Alanis Morissette.
It interests me that Jessy Lanza is kind of a critical behemoth, despite being mostly unknown, whereas Alanis Morissette made probably the most famous album of the 90’s and her album has seen little coverage. This exact dynamic has been kind of beaten to death over the years. Steve Hyden covered it nicely in his “Ask a Music Critic” Column where he talked about the bands Lord Huron and Iceage, one of whom has played the Hollywood Bowl, and one of whom who has gotten Best New Music on Pitchfork four times in a row (the answer might surprise you!) For Alanis Morissette though, this issue of who gets covered by a music publication intersects with her womanhood, which tends to complicate things.
I think in recent years, things have been shifting away from this a bit. Sleater-Kinney and The (Dixie) Chicks are two of the most reported on music acts of the past two years and they both feature 40+ women who are central to their narrative (and Alanis was on Fallon this week so I can’t say she’s been completely ignored). Still, retroactively speaking, views of famous women tend to be a bit reductive so I wanted to take an honest look.
The first thing you need to do is listen to the album “Alanis” which came out in 1991. This album seems to have come from a planet where the only music is Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation and George Michael’s Faith. It isn’t particularly good or bad, it sounds nothing like Jagged Little Pill, and it is very disorienting to experience.
It is admittedly kind of ironic (sic) that some of the gritty music of the 90’s, which to many was seen as a rebuke of 80’s pop artificiality, came from someone who was dabbling in those exact sounds, but you know, when stuff like Nirvana’s Nevermind and Metallica’s Black Album hit the mainstream, there tends to be some jarring repercussions. Jagged Little Pill hit three years after that, drawing on similar, raging sounds, in the middle of the third-wave feminist movement, and was obviously extremely huge. It is quotable and perfect.
The album that followed Jagged Little Pill is probably the one that has been heard the least by younger fans, that I think they should give a spin. Titled Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie and released in 1998, you can probably guess which band it sounds like (it’s Radiohead). It’s a bit inconsistent and long, and occasionally her extremely roundabout way of pronouncing words grates on the ears, but it cools down to a nice smoldering energy about half-an-hour in. “One” simmers nicely and after coining the utterly amazing phrase “sexy treadmill capitalist,” Morissette takes the obligatory good, hard look at her newfound fame and it’s extremely sick.
Though the general sound is kind of like Radiohead (check out that string outro on “Are You Still Mad”) it's also kind of like Post Malone in that if you want to hear every sound of a specific era smushed together, you should listen to this album. Trip-Hop, late grunge, alternative singer-songwriter, and some light touches of rave music all pop up and I imagine that this album sounds like what 1998 was like to live through.
Probably the weirdest thing I came across was the album “The Prayer Cycle” which isn’t really an Alanis album, but she sings a bunch on. It's just a full-out piece of shit, one of the worst things I’ve ever discovered and just, like, was the goal to make people mad? If I wanted to make a room of classical musicians mad I would have Alanis Morissette just scream a bunch of nonsense over a classical ensemble and that's literally what this is, insane.
I feel like the album Under Rug Swept deserves more (or something). Opener “21 Things I Want in a Lover” has some wild drum sounds and some sweet, grimy guitar work to accompany lyrics that tow the line between 90’s and 00’s angst. Coming out 4 months before Avril Lavigne’s debut album, the two of them were essentially peers during that time, but I don’t really get the sense that our cultural memory thinks in this way. Avril Lavigne’s influence is pretty well documented these days and Liz Phair’s self-titled album has been mostly redeemed from its infamous 0/10 Pitchfork rating, I think we can add Alanis to this particular sect of 00s rocker.
Admittedly, since then, her career has featured some bizarre choices. The song “Citizen of the Planet” from 2008 is pretty unhinged. It begins with sitar and the chorus has a Linkin Park-like guitar breakdown. Her 2012 album has some legitimately beautiful production, but with song titles like “Celebrity” and “Empathy,” it's a little on the nose. Morissette has always been extremely direct, it’s just the lyric “I am a tattooed, sexy, dancing monkey” doesn’t have the same panache as “sexy treadmill capitalist.”
I think with Alanis Morissette, generally, it's easy to point out that she has pretty consistently followed trends (she was featured on the latest Halsey album after all). Even Jagged Little Pill could catch flack for being a bit of an industry-created 1995 marketing monster. Still, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas winning a bunch of Grammys for an album about Depression (as they describe it) is reflective of something. Morissette was an early voice for those feelings from a woman’s perspective in pop music and her way of blending them together with mainstream sounds in an affirming and honest way was a remarkable and important feat for its time that holds a lot of weight today, where practically every pop star “opens up” about their mental health issues.
We’re also in a time where everything from emo, to nu-metal, to pop punk have been deemed redeemable by critics who formerly never would’ve touched them because they meant so much to angsty teens who’ve now grown up. I think Alanis Morissette should be understood in the same way. Her new album is a beautiful depiction of finding strength in motherhood amidst struggles with depression. I don’t know if I can say it's one of my favorite albums of the year, but I certainly think Morissette is a figure worth serious consideration.
Jessy Lanza
Jessy Lanza’s new album is a perfect summer balm. Her ongoing project of combining airy, R&B vocals with miniature dance beats continues, this time a bit brighter than her first two albums. If her albums Pull My Hair Back and Oh No sounded a bit like 4 in the morning, All the Time is more of a 4 pm type of feeling. For an artist who once told me that “Adele sucks” in an interview, the album is remarkably sincere. On the title track, Lanza sings “all the time, I only want you close to me” in just the sweetest tone and it's simply lovely.
If I were to say anything about what this album means to music in a larger sense, I would probably mention that she fits into the somewhat new tradition of music wherein an artist’s vocals are more a device for their production mix then they are the main melodic device that sits over the instrumentals. I think about artists like Grouper and Julianna Barwick who’s cloudy, ambient-influenced music sees them practically whispering amongst the noise, and artists like grimes and SOPHIE, who similarly distort and alter their vocals in a pop music context.
Lanza sings generally very quietly and the Jessy Lanza Music Project is more a showcase of her production chops than it is a showcase of a pop singer with traditionally written pop hits. She also works with Jeremy Greenspan of Junior Boys, both of them doing bits of everything, going so far to say “It’s like we’re a band but the band is my name.” Rather than more traditional acts like Dua Lipa, who work with different producers to make her vocals hit in different ways, Lanza and Greenspan explore each other’s ideas right from the get-go.
All the Time has her signature repetitive vocal moments, single “Lick In Heaven’s” chorus is just “can’t stop spinning” and on “Badly” its “want you badly.” In another context this might be a little mind numbing, but the floating beats are easy to get lost in and the album flies by beautifully. This of course isn’t entirely new, from original house music remixes, to Houston’s chopped and screwed music, vocals have been skewed and repurposed in creative fashions for a long time. Now, however, I get the sense that playful vocal tricks are a bit more intrinsic to the songwriting itself and Jessy Lanza embodies that. Her music is both an easy listen and a fascinating listen, highly recommended.
Donny’s Room
Lately, I’ve been spending a stupid amount of time playing Madden and hoping that the upcoming NFL season doesn’t completely fall apart. For all the NFL’s flaws, I did really enjoy the game-play last season and I think it’s because it was the most “Madden Season” I’ve ever seen. Let me explain.
For the uninitiated, Madden is the premier football video game. It’s technically been around since 1988, but its hay-day arguably hit around 1998 with the advent of “Franchise Mode,” which allowed players to play through entire seasons and build their teams the way they wanted with a full draft of all the players in the league. It is easily my favorite video game ever and the one I’ve spent the most time playing. I think what makes the game so great is obviously that young boys can live out their big sports dreams, but I also think there’s something particular to football as a video game that adds to the appeal.
Football is an extremely codified sport. The most famous quote by the most famous coach (at least today) is “do your job.” Everyone has a specific job and a specific position. Unlike basketball, soccer, or hockey, where players are generally expected to play some measure of both offense and defense, football players at the professional level have one side of the ball that they play on and one position that they play.
On offense, there’s the quarterback. He’s typically pretty tall (maybe like 6’2” to 6’5”) and can see what's going on all the time, he can run a bit, but he’s not really expected to. A running-back has a low center of gravity (he’s like 5’9” and like 215 pounds) so he can act as a battering ram, and also slip through a defense. You’ve got your tight-ends who are big targets, reliable for five to eight yards, slot receivers who’re essentially slightly taller running backs and can run really fast, turning an 8 yard pass into a 15 yards after the catch. And of course you’ve got your Randy Moss-like deep threats who not only run fast, but can jump over everybody.
Defense has three major classifications. There’s the secondary players who’re built like Randy Moss and can, hopefully, catch up with him if the quarterback needs a deep pass. The middle-linebackers, who’re like really beefed up running-backs, maybe like 6-feet tall and 250 pounds, who sometimes blitz, but primarily guard the middle of the field in case anyone gets through the 1500 collective pounds of your three or four defensive ends and tackles.
What makes Madden so great is it gives you the opportunity to break these rules. Every kid who’s played the game has entered “create player” mode and made a running back with 99 speed who’s like seven feet tall and 400 pounds (just completely untackleable). Even without specifically designing a player, in Madden you control one person at a time and that gives you the ability to make that player do things outside of their usual responsibilities. Perhaps the most insane example of this is that in the world championship of Madden, this year, the winner placed a punter at the quarterback position and beefed up his offensive line, so that he could win by strictly running the ball.
My personal taste buds lead me to also favor running the ball, but I love doing it with a quarterback. Because quarterbacks typically don’t run in the NFL, the game isn’t really programmed with the expectation that the players will take the quarterback seriously as a running threat. Basically, if your quarterback is out of the pocket and the middle linebackers are in zone coverage, they won’t try to tackle you until you cross the line of scrimmage, so you’ve got a built in head start. A young Donovan Burtan was just deeply in love with Donovan McNabb’s 81 speed rating in the 2006 version of the game, only to be bested by Vince Young’s 90 speed rating two years later.
Now, it’s easy to say breaking the football rules is a fun aspect of Madden because it's a video game, but this also translates pretty well into the NFL itself. Yes, there are extremely specific classifications for what size and skill-set players will have, but oftentimes in the NFL, the difference between winning and losing is having that one player who defies the rules of their position and becomes a unique playmaker. I feel like this was the dominant narrative of the 2019 season.
The two most significant plays of the last NFL season summarize it nicely. They are two plays by two quarterbacks who epitomize what I’d like to describe as “Madden Players.” The first is from the league’s MVP. I’d argue that it’s the prettiest spin move in NFL history (though not the best, the best is obviously John Elway’s helicopter move, which happens to be the ugliest spin move in NFL history). Anyways, ladies and gentleman, here’s Lamar Jackson.
This is incredible at a surface level because, I mean look at that. He’s about to get tackled by two guys and then, in an instant, he’s not. But what’s amazing about this play is that Lamar Jackson is a quarterback, who cuts directly through the middle of the defense on a planned Quarterback running play. Usually this is not allowed. As common drafting knowledge will tell you, the difference between a good college quarterback and a good NFL quarterback is often rather large.
In college football, the name of the game is the quarterback option. This is when a quarterback runs somewhat towards the sideline and his running back follows. The quarterback has the option to toss it to the Running back, or cut upfield and run it themselves. In the NFL, the typical quarterback archetype is more about standing in the pocket and tossing the ball, and if they do run it's more because something went wrong then because something went right. Lamar Jackson absolutely smashes all these rules. Though he’s not the first successful running quarterback, his offense is probably the most extreme example of one designed around his ability to run and this play is the most incredible showcase of this team.
The other most significant play of the NFL season is the one that essentially won the Chiefs their super bowl title.
Seven minutes on the clock, the Chiefs are down by 10 points and they have to convert a Third down play. Patrick Mahomes, purveyor of Mahomes magic throughout the playoffs, drops impossibly far back in the pocket, he’s under pressure, and he nails a 50 yard pass to Tyreek Hill. This is, again, one of those plays that is obviously very beautiful to watch, but it has some subtlety to it. Namely, how the fuck did Patrick Mahomes see Tyreek Hill, who’s pretty meek by NFL standards, from 50 yards away.
These are “Madden Plays” or “Madden Players” because they seemingly defy what’s possible and bring creative new achievements to the league. In another season these would be the two most spectacular freak accidents in the season. Eli Manning’s and David Tyree’s “The Catch” was spectacular but it didn’t really summarize the season. These plays summarize the whole energy of the league.
The spark dates back to when the Ravens shocked the Patriots on Sunday Night Football in week nine. Cris Collinsworth prophesied something along the lines of “just think about what this game could mean, where we saw THIS Ravens offense come in and shock THIS Patriots defense.” For the rest of the regular season, Jackson and the Ravens just roasted everyone and Jackson himself was essentially a walking highlight real.
The playoffs were where things really heated up. Though the Ravens couldn’t keep up their regular season momentum, practically every game ended in historic or stunning fashion. Derrick Henry is another extremely Madden player. Let’s just take a look at Derrick Henry. He’s a running back, but he’s 6’3” and 238 pounds, which is pretty huge. He’s basically like if the Air-bud franchise was about a Rhino rather than a golden retriever. He’s the phrase “look at this absolute unit” personified. Henry had a monster year in general (he was the league’s leading rusher), but in three playoff games, he ran for 446 total yards, an NFL playoffs record. The Titans’ game against the Ravens was particularly wild because he quite literally carried the team on his back—Quarterback Ryan Tannehill only threw for 88 yards total. This is the type of stuff you can do in Madden, just ignore the passing game altogether and get it done with one player, but it’s not supposed to actually happen in the NFL.
Meanwhile, in the NFC, the star was Raheem Mostert. This guy is not as huge as Derrick Henry, but at 5’11” and 197 pounds, he’s also kind of a weird running back. If Derrick Henry is a Hummer, Mostert is a little bit more subtle--he’s a Toyota Tundra or something. But this guy ran for 220 yards in a single game against the Green Bay Packers, which is the second most yards anyone has ever run in an NFL playoff game. What’s weird is that Mostert was never really used by the 49ers in this way. The team had been running a more “by committee” system to this point between him and Tevin Coleman, not to mention the fact that Jimmy G, their quarterback, is one of the highest paid players in the NFL and by most measures, a pretty standard issue pocket passer. But you know, sometimes in Madden you do what works, and Kyle Shanahan just kept handing it off to Mostert to make it to the superbowl.
Mostert and Henry are examples of individual effort throughout a game, but there’s also situations where you play against your friend and just fuck around the whole time, which is kind of what the Texans playoff experience was like. I encourage you to watch their highlights against the Buffalo Bills. The opening Bills drive begins with a designed Quarterback running play and ends with trick play where their running back throws the ball to their quarterback to score a touchdown. After that, the game was somewhat normal, but the second half and overtime quarter are both a complete mess.
The Bills were up by 16 points in the 3rd Quarter, but then Quarterback Deshaun Watson finally got his shit together and strung together a touchdown scoring drive. The actual touchdown play was pretty insane, as Watson ran about 20 yards down the field and crossed the line into the end-zone with four Bills players all trying to pull him down. He also followed that up with a two point conversion run which looked extremely Madden. Next drive, Josh Allen just dropped the ball for no reason and suddenly the Texans are right back in this thing.
What’s weird is the Texans made it 19-16 with three minutes left in the game. This is not a lot of time. The rule of thumb is kind of, if the Texans defense stops them here, the game is done, which is what happened. Josh Allen made a crucial error on third down by throwing the ball at an ineligible receiver. Then it was 4th down and 27 and he got sacked. Under two minutes left, it looked like he blew it. But the Bills somehow stopped the Texans four times in a row and used their three timeouts to leave over a minute left on the clock. Somehow with no timeouts left they make it into field goal range, tie the game at 19, and force Overtime. (Not to mention the fact that Allen made an extremely bizarre move during one play, where he was running and attempted to toss it to an unknowing teammate who had to bat the ball out of bounds to avoid turning it over).
Overtime continued the shenanigans as the Texans couldn’t get a drive going. Then, the Bills just about got into field goal range, but got a penalty at the last minute which forced them out of range and they had to punt it. All the crazy energy of the game came to a head when Deshaun Watson was nearly sacked by two Bills players at the same time, but somehow spun and stayed on his feet, and tossed the ball to his running back Taiwan Jones, who made an incredible run to set-up the game winning field goal. I have watched this play approximately 90 times and I still have no idea how he wasn’t tackled.
Somehow, the Texans played in another game like this a week later against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. “Mahomes Magic” refers to Pat’s insane ability to turn games around and win. He did this for all three of the Chiefs playoff games and this was probably the most jarring. The Texans scored on the opening drive, then they blocked a Chiefs punt and scored there, and later a Chief’s player fumbled a punt from the Texans, which set them up to score AGAIN in the first quarter, making it 21-0. This is pretty much the worst possible start to a game, but the Chiefs would not go down that easily.
After an excellent kick return by Mecole Hardman, the Chiefs were able to string together their first touchdown in the 2nd quarter. This seemed to have affected the Texans’ offense because they failed to get anything going, and called a weird fake punt play to attempt a fourth down conversion which didn’t work and set up the Chiefs for another touchdown. Immediately after THIS, the Texans fumbled the ball during a Kickoff which ALSO set the Chiefs up for a touchdown. Later on, with two-minutes left in the half, Mahomes led the Chiefs to a touchdown yet again with some nice quarterback runs, making the score 28-24 going into the half. This is just a seismic first half unlike anything you see outside of a video game.
Now, I’m not going to attribute all this stuff to Madden because I think we’re seeing a convergence of influence between the game and the innovations of certain players and organizations in the 2000’s. I would argue that Michael Vick is a proto-Madden Player and Bill Belichick is a proto-Madden play caller. Michael Vick was the first Quarterback to run for more than 1000 yards in a season and his entry into the NFL was an immediate, game changing success. In a more general sense, The Patriots legacy of creativity set the stage for much of the play calling we see now. Belichick’s penchant for using running backs (like Corey Dillon) to garner a lot of receptions, or Tight Ends (Gronk) as primary receivers, and even weirder stuff like his consistent use of defensive player Mike Vrabel to catch touchdowns. (Mike Vrabel is now the coach of the Tennessee Titans who beat the Patriots this season with some creative play calling of their own). Also, who can forget about Vince Wilfork, who at 325 pounds was one of the most athletic “big men” in NFL history and changed the defensive tackle position.
I think about these players and I think about Lamar Jackson, who at least had the most Madden-like regular season. Born in January 1997, he’s just about as old as Madden as we know it today. He’s the first successful member of gen-z in NFL history and he grew up playing Madden. If millennials popularized Madden, gen-z has never lived in a world without it. I think it would be irresponsible to attribute all of his talents to the game, but think about this. During Michael Vick’s record setting 1000 yard rushing season, Lamar Jackson was 10. I think it's possible that some of his coaches over the years told him he could run or pass, but probably not both and maybe going home to tear through a defense with Michael Vick’s 95 speed rating told him otherwise. With Jackson himself on the cover of this year’s edition, the cycle continues.
-Donovan Burtan
Don your interests are truly wide-ranging and it is a pleasure to watch you spin yarns about anything and everything (girlbands and football, respectively)