Check out the line-up of leftfield artists at the Domino Records gig, at the Temple Bar Music Centre on Saturday, April 29th. Lou Barlow, he of Sebadoh and Folk Implosion fame, will be joined by alt. Brit act, Clinic, and electro-technician, Max Tundra, for an evening of truly independent rock.

Domino may be one of the few indie imprints around which doesn't stand or fall on the whim of a major label parent. This little cred roster was started up by Lawrence Bell, who has "done a little bit of everything" on his path to becoming a small-record-company mogul.

"I started a fanzine when I was aged 12," boasts the Suffolk Svengali. "It was around 1979, and I was writing about post-punk bands like The Fall and The Raincoats." His interest in the independent sector was stoked by a stint at Fire Records, home of Spacemen 3 and The Lemonheads. When Sebadoh shuffled in from Seattle, Bell decided to go it alone, and so Lou Barlow and Co became the first signings to Domino Records.

Since then, Bell has added such offbeat American acts as Bonnie Prince Billy, Palace Brothers, Smog, Pavement, Quasi, Royal Trux and Will Oldham to the label, bringing the US underground directly to UK record buyers.

Today's climate of big mergers and takeovers in the record industry doesn't faze Bell one bit either. AOL may have merged with Time Warner, and Seagrams may have swallowed Universal, but Domino won't fall beneath the onslaught of the mighty majors.

"It's a great thing for indie labels," says Bell. "The big thing that worries artists is the increasing size of the major record companies. They're becoming more grimly corporate, and many have dropped all pretence of being into the music. That leaves a lot of space for new people to come in and sign talented people."

The Domino Records night, with Lou Barlow's Folk Implosion, Clinic and Max Tsundra, is at the Temple Bar Music Centre on Saturday, April 29th