Fresno Famous

Ann Arbor Michigan-based We're Twins Records began innocently enough with the immediate purpose of releasing a single record. Then in autumn of 2001, a meeting was called to plan a subsequent release. From that meeting a musical collective spanning three cities- Ann Arbor, Brooklyn, and Olympia - and numerous minds emerged. A free CD sampler was released and thus began an eccentric musicological joyride.

The music on We're Twins -- much of which can be sampled in the "Catalogue" section of their website -- is hard to describe because it's patently different from anything you're likely to encounter outside of early morning specialty radio programs. It's generally humorous and is largely comprised of solo artists; a bit like anti-folk but more adventurous.

"We don't have much to offer for artists that are more traditionally oriented toward being a band," says Jason Voss, who does radio promotion and a lot of the recording and assembling for We're Twins.

The We're Twins catalogue is a dizzying list of genres like bossa nova, metal, jazz, folk, dance, and others.

"It functions like a collection of projects that are related in a variety of different ways and are hopefully fun for listeners to explore. We keep the prices low to encourage people to get into it and listen to a wide scope of the music," says Voss.

The label welcomes submissions, although most of the releases come from friends of the principal operators.

Right now several artist from We're Twins are touring the West Coast on a tour called Hobo-A-Go-Go. Jason Voss, Justin Shay, and Patrick Elkins will be playing the Fresno Famous Festival at the Army Induction Building on Sunday, July 18th. They will be joined by Lemoore's The Insects and Fresno's Brekfast Boyz.

The evening may change your record collection forever.