Hot Chip's 'Random Violence' Honors JD Twitch Ahead of Ninth LP

A dance-floor elegy opens a new chapter

Hot Chip are back with a new album. On October 19 the London group announced A Long Way From Kansas, their ninth studio record, which Domino will release on January 8, 2027.48 The lead single, "Random Violence," is a memorial to Keith McIvor, the Glasgow DJ known as JD Twitch of Optimo. McIvor died in September 2025 after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.23 The band paired the announcement with a video and a run of UK and European tour dates for early 2027.34

On the surface this is a standard rollout: a single, a tracklist, presale tickets. Underneath it is a statement about what Hot Chip think a dance band is for in 2026. The answer they give is grief, solidarity and a crowded room of people singing together.

What "Random Violence" is

Joe Goddard's statement about the song has been quoted almost word for word in every outlet that covered the release. He calls McIvor an old friend and a brilliant DJ who "largely inspired the words of the song." He describes him as a passionate music lover and a committed socialist, and says many of the lyrics come from McIvor's death and from nights at Glasgow's Sub Club, where the band met him about 20 years ago.2610 The published lyrics include Goddard singing about friends who will tell stories of a man who spent his life "sending songs out into the world," before Alexis Taylor comes in with the chorus line "You gave me something to believe in."1112

The vocal arrangement is unusual for this band. Goddard sings lead, Taylor takes the second verse, and the whole group joins on the chorus.13 Taylor's voice has defined Hot Chip's singles for most of their career, so giving the opening to Goddard makes the song feel personal. The words come from the member whose memories are being described.

The tributes go beyond the song. On October 21 the band are DJing with friends at Sub Club itself, a date several outlets present as a celebration of McIvor's legacy.4912 The video was directed by Jack Cole and features Boss Morris, an all-female progressive Morris dancing troupe. Al Doyle says it was modelled on Optimo's Espookio Halloween parties at Sub Club. He describes the shoot as a gathering of "woodland spirits, cursed animals and crazed dancers" in "a celebration of humanity, remembrance and resistance."311

Where the coverage agrees, and where it splits

The outlets agree on the facts: the dedication, the release date, the label, the guests, the Wizard of Oz title. That consistency points to a tightly controlled press campaign. The same Goddard and Taylor quotes run through almost every write-up.246

The interesting differences are in how critics describe the sound. Stereogum's Chris DeVille calls the track a new wave power ballad that captures something of LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends," with orchestral sounds replacing that song's relentless piano.2 Bill Pearis of Sound Bites also hears the LCD echo and a nod to New Order. But he says a piano hook drives the two-chord song, alongside a string section.1 Both writers hear the same ancestry and disagree about what is doing the work. The LCD comparison makes sense either way: Doyle plays in both bands, and McIvor was a friend they shared.2

The wider descriptions of the album diverge more. Consequence says the band take on a bleak political moment with a more distorted, punk-influenced sound.4 Audiofuzz calls the record tonally dark but sonically ecstatic, full of rough textures and colliding loops that never quite settle.17 Sound Bites calls "Random Violence" itself warm and lovely.1 I think both readings are right, and the gap between them is the story. Going by the press language, the album leans into noise and decay. Going by every account of the lead single, Hot Chip chose to open with the warmest, most communal thing they had. That choice says something: the band want listeners to meet the darkness through an act of friendship first.

A few smaller details don't match, and anyone buying tickets should check them. Under the Radar lists two Glasgow shows at SWG3 Galvanizers, on March 7 and 8, with Manchester's Albert Hall on March 9.3 Consequence has Glasgow on March 7, Manchester on March 8 and a Birmingham date on March 9 that other lists leave out.4 Resident Advisor gives January 8 as the release date in its body text, but its closing line says 2026, which looks like a typo. It is also the only outlet to mention South American touring for the rest of 2026. Stereogum says the record will be the first Hot Chip album in almost five years.2 Freakout/Release came out in 2022, so the gap is closer to four and a half years, though the point holds.36

The album around the single

A Long Way From Kansas has eleven tracks. Beth Ditto of Gossip guests on "Me In Your Head" and Eddie Chacon appears on "The Garden."217 The band recorded it earlier this year at Relax and Enjoy, the East London studio run by Goddard and Doyle.412 Pearis notes that owning a studio other bands also book probably helps a long-running indie act financially.1

Taylor's framing is the most quotable part of the announcement. He says the record reflects a world that feels "particularly harsh, discordant, violent and depressing." He adds that not every song addresses politics or genocide, but that this was an unavoidable backdrop to making the music.34 He also says distortion "came to be a bit of a watchword for the whole record."1214 The title borrows Dorothy's line from The Wizard of Oz, and the cover shows a Cairn Terrier like Toto. The image of being far from home and trying to get back runs through the whole campaign.111

The album also has more singers. Taylor says Owen Clarke and Felix Martin both sing on it, Martin for the first time on a Hot Chip record, along with a choir and a lot of group vocals. He calls it "opening out our interior world and bringing all these voices together."1215 Taken with a lead single built around a full-band chorus, this looks like a deliberate design choice, not a garnish. Audiofuzz reaches the same conclusion, arguing that the extra voices support the record's central idea that music can lead people back to one another.17 That is a critic's interpretation of an unreleased album, so treat it with some caution. It does fit everything the band have said so far.

Why it matters: Hot Chip in their third decade

Pearis puts the band's position well. Hot Chip came out of the 2000s blog-house era and have survived the streaming economy and changing tastes. They remain much loved without ever making the jump some of their peers did.1 The last couple of years have kept them in view without a new album. There was the Joy In Repetition career compilation, an appearance alongside Oscar Isaac in the second season of Netflix's Beef, and a 20th-anniversary celebration of The Warning that included an episode of Song Exploder.612 Members have kept busy outside the band too. Taylor released the solo album Paris in the Spring this year, and Doyle's first solo LP, Hollywood Saviour, is due on DFA on November 20.1

Against that background, opening with an elegy for a Glasgow DJ is a revealing choice. McIvor was not a pop star. Coverage describes him as a curator and one of the most forward-thinking promoters in the UK, someone whose work shaped Glasgow's club culture.517 Building the comeback around him puts Hot Chip inside a lineage of club nights, record collectors and politically minded promoters rather than chart competition. Spin calls the song loss turned into "a rallying cry for music, solidarity and human connection."12 That is about as plainly as the band's own framing could be put.

There is a risk here. A record about distortion and a harsh world could end up worthy and joyless. Nothing released so far suggests that. Reviewers keep reaching for words like warm, majestic and euphoric for the single.159 The Morris dancers, Halloween costumes and the band's comment that the shoot was as much fun as it looks all suggest Hot Chip still think joy is a form of resistance.311

The road ahead

Tickets for the 2027 dates go on general sale on October 23. People who pre-order the album get presale access.13 The tour starts at Berlin's Astra on February 26, passes through Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin, and ends at London's Exhibition White City on March 12.34 The album will come out on deluxe double vinyl with an extra 7-inch, standard double vinyl, CD and digital. First vinyl pressings get spot-gloss and foil-blocked sleeves with artwork by Scott King.9

The full album will show whether A Long Way From Kansas really is as rough as the press language claims. "Random Violence" already makes the band's case. In a year they describe as harsh and discordant, Hot Chip have answered with a song about a friend who gave them something to believe in, and they are taking it back to the room where they met him.212