A new Hot Chip album? Wicked! More like The Wizard Of Oz, actually. The veteran British synth-pop greats will return in January with A Long Way From Kansas, their Dorothy-and-Toto-themed ninth LP. When it arrives, it will be the first Hot Chip album in almost five years, though they dropped the career-spanning comp Joy In Repetition last year and have stayed busy with their solo ventures. Beth Ditto and Eddie Chacon both guest on the new LP.
Hot Chip are previewing A Long Way From Kansas today with lead single "Random Violence," a new wave power ballad that captures some of the essence of LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends," but with orchestral sounds subbed in for the incessant piano. The connection makes sense. Al Doyle is a member of both Hot Chip and LCD, and the song is a tribute to their mutual friend Keith McIvor of Optimo, aka JD Twitch, who died of brain cancer last year. It starts out as a Joe Goddard number, but Alexis Taylor chimes in on the chorus, as they both earnestly profess, "You gave me something to believe in."
Goddard offered these words:
Last year in September our old friend and brilliant DJ Keith McIvor of Optimo in Glasgow passed away after a diagnosis of an inoperable brain tumour a few months earlier. He largely inspired the words of the song. He was a passionate music lover and a staunch believer in socialism. Many of the words relate directly to his death and to memories of being in Sub Club in Glasgow where we met 20 years ago.
Jack Cole directed the "Random Violence" video, and you can watch it below. And if you missed the DFA's cover of the Waterboys' "The Whole Of The Moon" in tribute to McIvor over the summer, check that out too.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Stuck Around"
02 "Waiting Around"
03 "Random Violence"
04 "The Mask Is Slipping"
05 "Splinter"
06 "Shortcut To Love"
07 "Me In Your Head" (Feat. Beth Ditto)
08 "Hook Me Up"
09 "Secular Hymns"
10 "The Garden" (Feat. Eddie Chacon)
11 "Crushing"