Hot Chip Ninth Album Arrives January With JD Twitch Tribute

A ninth album, and a darker mood

Hot Chip have confirmed their ninth studio album, A Long Way From Kansas. Domino will release it on January 8, 2027.111 The lead single, "Random Violence," came out with the announcement along with a music video.1 The record has 11 tracks, and Beth Ditto and Eddie Chacon appear as guests.2 It is the band's first full album of new material since Freakout/Release in 2022.1011

The title comes from The Wizard of Oz. Coverage connects it to Dorothy's journey home and to the album's interest in belonging and stability in a chaotic world.14 The German magazine Visions reads the album as a search for a way back to normal life. It argues that this goal feels even further away than Kansas in a time of war and climate disaster.

The band recorded the album at Relax and Enjoy, the East London studio run by Joe Goddard and Al Doyle.1 Frontman Alexis Taylor's statement gives the clearest sense of the record's mood. He says the world the band made it in felt harsh, discordant, violent and depressing. He adds that this does not make every song a political statement, but that the backdrop could not be avoided.1 He also says distortion became something of a watchword for the whole album.3

"Random Violence" as an elegy for JD Twitch

The lead single is the emotional center of this rollout. Outlets from Pitchfork to small independent blogs agree that it is a tribute to Keith McIvor, the Glasgow DJ known as JD Twitch and co-founder of Optimo.1217 Goddard says McIvor died in September of last year, a few months after he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. He describes McIvor as a devoted music lover and a committed socialist.3 He also says many of the lyrics deal directly with McIvor's death and with memories of Glasgow's Sub Club, where the band met him about 20 years ago.2

One outlet adds more detail: McIvor died on September 19, 2025, aged 57. With Jonnie Wilkes he ran Optimo's Sunday night at Sub Club from 1997 to 2010, a night known for mixing genres freely.16

The song's structure is unusual for Hot Chip. Goddard sings lead before Taylor comes in later.11 Lyric annotators call it a rare Hot Chip single with Goddard on lead vocals, with the whole band joining for the chorus.15 Taylor's line "You gave me something to believe in" follows Goddard's picture of a man who spent his life sending songs into the world.5 Consequence reports that the song sets violence against acts of kindness, a nod to the positivity and human connection McIvor encouraged.1

The published lyrics also nod to the music McIvor played. They reference "Venus in furs" and "Another girl, another planet," and mention a Sunday night.15 This reading is our own, but it makes sense: a tribute to a DJ built from fragments of the records he might have played.

A video built on Halloween parties and morris dancing

Jack Cole directed the video. It features Boss Morris, an all-female progressive morris dancing group.211 Al Doyle says the idea came from Optimo's Espookio Halloween parties at Sub Club. He describes woodland spirits, cursed animals and wild dancers joining a celebration of humanity, remembrance and resistance.5

Only Visions describes the video's politics in detail. It reports dancers carrying protest signs with activist slogans and symbols, in a yellow-and-red color scheme it associates with socialism. English-language coverage mostly uses the press-release phrasing about togetherness, resistance and a life well lived.317 The German description fits with Goddard's emphasis on McIvor's socialism, though, and it suggests the band is making a political point in the visuals as well as the lyrics.

The tribute also continues offline. Hot Chip planned to DJ with friends at Sub Club on October 21 to celebrate McIvor's legacy.4 Dork reported that tickets for the event were free.8 The electronic music outlet Time To House argued that playing the actual room Optimo built is what makes the tribute believable, because it is harder to fake than a lyric.16 That view is right. A song can name a scene from a distance, but turning up at the venue where the band met McIvor is a public commitment.

More voices, more grit

Beyond the single, the coverage points to a band opening up its sound. Taylor says Owen Clarke and Felix Martin sing on the record alongside him and Goddard. This is Martin's first time singing on a Hot Chip record. The album also has a choir and plenty of group singing.3 Taylor describes this as opening the band's interior world and bringing many voices together.11

Ditto sings on "Me In Your Head" and Chacon on "The Garden." "Random Violence" is third on the tracklist.4 The album runs from "Stuck Around" to the closer "Crushing."2

The main disagreement in the coverage is about how the album sounds. Consequence describes it as more distorted and punk-influenced.1 The Spill Magazine says the band is at its most primal, with crunching loops and vocals that leave loose ends open.7 Baby Step Magazine likewise says the album is rawer and more distorted.17 Time To House, by contrast, says the rest of the album leans orchestral, with strings framing what the band calls harsh world conditions.16

The distortion reading is more convincing. It matches Taylor's own comment about distortion being a watchword.3 The choir and group vocals may explain where the orchestral impression comes from.3 It is still possible that a record this varied contains both.

There is also a small inconsistency in the tracklist. Lyric site listings name the opener "Stuck Record" and add two more unreleased titles.15 Most outlets list 11 tracks, starting with "Stuck Around."23 The official count of 11 is the one to rely on until the label says otherwise.

Context: a busy year leading up to the album

The announcement follows a run of activity that kept Hot Chip visible without a new album. This year they appeared alongside Oscar Isaac in the second season of Netflix's Beef. They also marked the 20th anniversary of their second album, The Warning.1 The Spill Magazine adds that the anniversary fell in May and included an appearance on Song Exploder.7 Treble notes that the band reissued three of their classic albums earlier this year.6 Pitchfork mentions a 2025 reissue of the greatest-hits collection Joy In Repetition.12 Dork, however, presented Joy In Repetition as the band's first best-of album, a new retrospective that included a new track.8

Taken together, the band spent the gap between albums looking back at its catalog. That makes the turn to grief, protest and distortion more notable. A group often described as a London synth-pop institution2 is following a nostalgic year with a record its members describe as shaped by a bleak world.

The physical release is clearly aimed at collectors. Formats include a deluxe double gatefold LP with an extra 7-inch, a standard double gatefold LP, CD and digital.3 Baby Step Magazine reports that first pressings have limited-edition spot gloss and foil-blocked artwork by Scott King.17

On tour in early 2027

A UK and European tour starts in Berlin at Astra on February 26 and ends at London's Exhibition White City on March 12.8 Stops include Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris's Le Bataclan and Dublin.5 People who pre-order the album get access to a ticket pre-sale, and general sale opens October 23.8

Outlets disagree on the middle of the UK leg. Consequence and Neon Music list Manchester's Albert Hall on March 8 and Birmingham's O2 Institute on March 9.14 Northern Transmissions and The Spill Magazine list two Glasgow nights at SWG3 Galvanizers on March 7 and 8, with Manchester on March 9 and no Birmingham date.57 Fans should check the band's official listings before buying tickets.

Our view

Two songs into the band's third decade would be the wrong way to describe it, but there is a real shift here. Hot Chip's catalog has always balanced melancholy with dancefloor release. A Long Way From Kansas appears to push that balance further toward unease. It is led by a song that mourns a friend, praises his politics and is marked by a free gathering in his old club. The album will be judged on January 8. As a first statement, "Random Violence" makes a convincing case that the band has something urgent to say.