By Paul Towler

For those of you who remember when Bristol was the universal mecca of indie-pop, halcyon days of the late 80's and early 90's when Clifton based Sarah Records championed the tweecore underground, a time when DIY ethics and fanzine culture meant that 'indie' music was controlled by  'the kids' rather than the big label corporations of today, then maybe newly founded Cloudberry Records is a label for you.

Since it's launch in February 2007, the Miami based label has notched up over seventy releases in it's first year, a prolific start that any label would be proud to have achieved. Specialising in unusual 3" size CD singles, all of them lovingly packaged by designers worldwide, the label is aimed at bringing together aspiring indie-pop bands from around the world. Now in it's second year, Cloudberry Records have expanded their release schedule to include 7" vinyl singles, the first of which is by wonderful Swedish pop sensations Twig.
 

Twig's uplifting opener 'Ciao Ciao Bomb' boasts a glorious wash of bright sparkling, jangly guitars and subtle post-Smiths irony akin to 80's luminaries such as The Bodines and One Thousand Violins. The flipside 'Wentworth' is equally dazzling. 

Much like Bristol's legendary Sarah Records imprint, Cloudberry Records is a label of love - you can fall in love as much with the label as with the bands themselves - something that the imperialistic detachment of big corporate labels simply cannot offer. In the same way that 'C86' indie and it's 70's punk predecessor were fashioned by a fierce spirit of independence and a sense of collective belonging, Cloudberry Records look set to spearhead a whole new generation of international indie-pop. This stunning offering by Twig looks set to be just the beginning of something rather special.