LTK Commune

LTK Commune (aka LTK,

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

: ''Lô-chúi-khoe Kong-siā'' 濁水溪公社) is a well-known

"underground" band founded in 1990. Their music has been variously described as having elements of

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, nakasi, Taiwanese folk songs. In recent years band members have self-consciously applied the label "Taik" (from ''Tai''wanese + -k ending, as in ''punk'', ''rock'') to their music – a reference to the

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

ese ''

Taike Tai Ke () was originally a derogatory term used when the waishengren in Taiwan held certain discrimination against the benshengren (early settlers of the Taiwanese people). Today, the term is sometimes used to describe behaviors which are considered ...

'' ( Trad.: 台客) subculture. The ''LTK'' stands for "Loh Tsui Kweh", an idiosyncratic spelling (in Taiwanese) of the name of the Choshui River in Taiwan, one that evokes nativist sentiments. The two guitar players – Tsai Hai-en (蔡海恩) and Ke Jen-chien (柯仁堅) – share lead vocals. Both attended

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

but left school early. Between the two of them they have driven the band's evolution. The critic Malaite attributes the group's early grunge influence to Tsai

In addition to Western influences, both of them are, in their own ways, steeped in local, traditionally working class genres. There is also a bass player and a drummer. LTK Commune's earlier music echoes the island's protest movements of the early 1990s. Earlier themes have consciously reflected environmentalism, environmentalist concerns and

anti-authoritarian Anti-authoritarianism is opposition to authoritarianism, which is defined as "a form of social organisation characterised by submission to authority", "favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom" an ...

sentiments. With the decline of street protests and the onset of political liberalization, socially conscious themes have become less foregrounded. The band unabashedly supports Taiwan independence. Their songs often express the frustration of the Taiwanese

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...

male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

. Unapologetically sexual or

scatological In medicine and biology, scatology or coprology is the study of feces. Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its diet (and thus where it has been), health and diseases s ...

references and vulgar language are found in some songs, a characteristic embraced by the fans but found outrageous by some critics. Some critics detect a streak of male chauvinism, most notably in the song "Rape, Murder"; others consider the song as a study of the perverse psyche of a rapist-murderer. Much of the lyrics are in the native Taiwanese language, a choice consistent with the language's working class base, as well as the anti-

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

Opposition culture. Spoken monologues reminiscent of traditional melodrama (such as Budaixi,

Taiwanese opera Taiwanese opera () commonly known as Ke-Tse opera or Hokkien opera, is a form of traditional drama originating in Taiwan. Taiwanese opera uses a stylised combination of both the literary and colloquial registers of Taiwanese Hokkien. Its earliest ...

) are a favored device in their narratives. LTK Commune's live performances are noted for their spontaneity and engagement with the crowd. {{Authority control Musical groups established in 1990 Taiwanese punk rock groups 1990 establishments in Taiwan