Hit Pick

Reshaped from Pornographic Memory into one of Northern Colorado's most adventurous live acts, the Fort Collins-based quartet the President's Wives -- opening for Armchair Martian Friday, August 3, at the 15th Street Tavern -- serve up a punk-influenced hootenanny of free-range improv based loosely around the writings of citizenly frontman, Garin Daum. Bassist Karl Alvarez, from Lomita, California's legendary hardcore outfit All, joins broken, three-stringed guitarist/co-visionary Vinny Fasano and drummer John Motley to flesh out Daum's precarious fixations on loneliness, alcohol and masturbation. "I'm just kind of a romantic fucker who really digs girls and can write easily about them," Daum explains. Working from a thematically structured set list, the Wives lead listeners on a smut-filled, confessional odyssey of the vocalist's persistently "immoral life -- beginning from when I started jerking off in the womb on through to my use of intravenous drugs." With as much flair for rhythmic spontaneity as musical wankery, the foursome breaks barriers and bridges styles with growing skill, humor and fearlessness. Upland Records -- home of Blasting Room sessions by All, Drag the River and journeyman producer Spot, among others -- has room on the roster for the likes of these ladies, who plan to release a full-length soon enough. Until that happens, you'll have to settle for seeing them live -- not a bad prospect if you think about it. Boppin' one's baloney, after all, remains less of a privilege than a right; it's food for thought when mentally undressing sexy hardbodies like Nancy Reagan, Eleanor Roosevelt or Mary Todd Lincoln.