Inge Johansson (bassist in Refused, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, Against Me! and others) has put together a new band. Kinda punk, kinda new wave, kinda hardcore, kinda prog (er, short prog) . . . kinda awesome. Not unlike the first two bands I listed in his resume, Gatuplan aims itself in a direction and then blasts forward without looking back.

Gatuplan Valkommen Till Underjorden (Wild Kingdom)

So one song might bring to mind the Clash, and another might career in the direction of the Mars Volta playing Ramones karaoke. Always fast, always loud and always sung in Swedish. So there's that, too.

Foreign, but not really. Gatuplan has served up another platter chock full of punk history fused into something fresh and original. The influences are often easy to pick out, but in the end, no one puts all of these ideas together like this.

One of the brightest, happiest finds of the spring so far. Johanssen has played in more than a few legendary punk bands, and with a couple more sets like this, Gatuplan might begin to get in that conversation as well. Breathlessly brilliant. My heart can barely contain itself.

Jon Worley