THE MEDVEDS- Aging Failures (Pill Party Records) After many years, a few 7 inch releases, countless
shows, and a few delays, The Medveds have finally released their first compact disc. The
music on this 25 song disc is best described as “Nautical Punk.” Nautical Punk you ask? If
Capt. Kidd needed a band to motivate his ship full of pirates before pillaging a coastal town of
their money, booze, and woman, The Medveds would be offered a full time job. That, my
friend, is Nautical Punk. Along with a whirlpool of melodic riffs and hooks, Adam Thorsell and
Ben Hunter share the contradicting vocals. Adam’s voice is smoothly strong, while Ben’s
voice is down right gritty and almost “drunken” sounding. The songs are led by Jeremy
Brady’s strong lead guitar, as drummer Eric Altieri and bassist Larry Ramona round up the
pounding rhythm section. From the seaside marching sound heard in “In Like Flynn,” to the
inferior complex laden “A Stiff Like Me,” to the melody stricken “She Won’t Shave Her Legs,”
to the passionate loneliness in “Sort Of,” this disc is loaded with a non-stop barrage of unique
Nautical Punk. There is even a cool, hyped out instrumental called “Western Pill Party!”
Although I love this entire disc, “BC Headache Powder” is my favorite here, as is “Ned the
Pirate,” as is “Cindy is a Man,” you get the picture. – Denis Sheehan  
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THE MEDVEDS 8 songs from Aging Failures: 
Butch: Nearly all these songs are post-punk gems fit to grace the soundtrack of a movie like Go or even 8MM or some such. My proud boys are very strong.  So strong that I stuck their biohazard-orange stickers with the charming motto "I'd fuck 'em" on two exact-change collection baskets on the Mass Pike--so if you're leaving town via Cambridge and getting off at 128, watch for them. Why did I put myself at risk for these bohunks? Because their first song is called "And I Hate You Too" and I haven't been able to forget it and it's unlikely I ever will. (I swear, ever since I heard "Your Drinking Ruined Christmas" from a few years back I've been hooked.) Their opening number is as good as anything the Dickies ever covered—like "Gigantor," say, or "Banana Splits Theme Song." It's even in the same league as The Rezillos "I Love My Baby Cause She Does Good Sculptures Yeah." It's more like the Dictators than the Mentors, and as far as the Dead Kennedies --or, for that matter, The Dead Milkmen—are concerned, this is a whole lot less pretentious and maybe even a bit more subtle, if no less unsavory in parts. Check out the social commentary of "Shreveport," about some gink working in a boiler room making fraudulent telemarketing calls for Bible pounders. Check out the poignant tearjerker, "Cindy Is a Man." That's right you fuckers -I CRIED! The POOR GUY! In prison for God knows how long and one day he makes a highly unsettling discovery about his long-time putative fiancee. Who said an appreciation of the cosmic joke is dead? "Ned the Pirate" is an unexpectedly charming, inimitably hyper narrative, and a gooder. "In Like Flynn" puts me in mind of a post Johnny-Rotten Sex Pistols-esque thrasher like, say, "Cosh the Driver" off'n The Great Rock and Roll Swindle. 
Brenda: This is certainly a keeper, not just Boston-sized but post- apocalyptic- nation- state- wise...it's--dare I say it?--one for the ages. 
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"Aging Failures" seems to be a complete collection of the MEDVEDS' singles, comp tracks, plus a few stragglers.  For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of checking out the MEDVEDS, they play a lot of sing-songy rude, crude and lewd nursery rhyme punk tunes. Enjoy tunes like "The Ignorant, Violent Hillbilly", "Western Pill Party" and Deprived Fool".  Pretty cool collection.

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