About the Band

LTK

LTK, also known as Loh Tsui Kweh Commune, have a reputation for being a wildly surreal and often mockingly destructive band in Taiwan due to their degenerate lyrics and shockingly antics on and off stage. Drawing on punk and grunge which was leaking its way across the Pacific at the time the band formed in 1990, as well as Taiwan folk and nakasi, a rustic working class-themed local music, LTK are known as one of the more abrasive Taike bands on the island. This has made their style humorously Taiwanese, yet filled with a raucous punk attitude.

Members:

小柯 - Guitars & Vocals
秀秀- Guitar
蛋- Keyboard
哞- Bass
Robert - Drums

Links:

LTK’s Blog
LTK on Island of Sound

Taiwanese CDs

LTK COMMUNE
IV (TCM033)

CD Album - TW050 $18.99

TRACK LIST:

  1. 後搖籃曲 (Lullaby)
  2. 寶島風情畫 (Taiwanese Human Interest)
  3. 歡喜渡慈航 (Happy Salvation)
  4. 迷魂陣 (Trap)
  5. 蒼白的追憶 (My Heart Is Broken)
  6. 娜魯灣 (Naluwan)
  7. 無解 (Have Not Solved)
  8. 笑虧世界 (Smile And Lose The World)
  9. 安定的笑容 (Smile Of Assured)
  10. 麻雀英雄 (Mahjong Hero)
  11. 歡喜渡慈航補充 (Happy Salvation) Alternate Version
  12. 牽亡歌 (Burial Song)
  13. 新生活 (New Life)

PACIFICTION REVIEW:

The fourth album by the classic Taiwanese riotous taike punk group LTK COMMUNE is an absurd trip through their wacky thought process. The mismatched intro "Lullaby" makes use of downtempo eletcronica which leads into "Taiwan Human Interest" which has an even more uneven outro including a boys choir. Then, blasting out of nowhere is "Happy Salvation" which has received much attention on the web for its perverse and bizarre music video. opening with psychedelic sitar and electronica sounds, "Trap" becomes a new wave pop song. "Naluwan" is a an instrumental post-punk epic with parts that vary from dark Joy Division style progressions to Ennio Moricone western riffs to Frank Zappa-esque experimentation. If Quentin Tarantino ever made a Hong Kong gangster flick with a gambling protagonist, the hard rocking blues guitars and hip organ on "Majhong Hero" would make the soundtrack. "Burial Song" goes back to traditional sounding nakasi roots while "New Life" resurrects Taiwanese metal. Overall, the fourth album by LTK is a hodgepodge of genre that have influenced the group since the beginning as well as a definitive piece of Taiwanese music history not to be passed up by aficionados.

OTHER CDs BY THIS BAND

LEGONIC TRAP with LTK
No Pain No Gain

CD Split Singlemore info $5.99

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Diaffection To LTK

CD Compilationmore info $15.99