I. JORDAN

January 17, 2022 at PST

Admit It (U Don't Want 2) - Single

1 Trackfalse

May 6, 2021 at PDT

Watch Out! - EP

“It’s about movement in so many different ways,” I. JORDAN tells Apple Music on Watch Out!. It’s an EP conceptualized by the artist during times of relative quietude—train journeys to gigs, long-distance cycling, even the lack of movement brought upon by a global pandemic. But the result manages to translate the mundane into tracks that demand listeners be affected. There are thundering synths, vocal screams hopeful for swelling dancefloors, and bubbling notes of house perfectly capturing the heady rise of energy arising before you get there. Still, the project equally articulates their movements in terms of personhood and development, communicating major life events, individual quirks and experiences by way of sonics. “I’ve transitioned quite a lot as the EP was being made,” they say. “It was only a week or two after [I started the first track] that I came out as non-binary. I’ve spent the last year or so coming to terms with that, and getting confident in myself and my own gender identity. It’s very much tied into the music that I was making.” Here, I. JORDAN takes us through Watch Out!, breaking things down track by track.

Only Said Enough
“I started making this around December of 2019 and finished it on a train up to Hull in February 2020. Finn [McCorry, UK DJ and artist] and I were about to play back-to-back together at a night that we actually used to run, it’s a homage to all of those nights we used to play together. He’d said I should make a big hardcore vocal track because I make hardcore music but not often with a vocal as a primary focus. I describe this one as a tune that smacks you in the face; I like the boldness of it, especially because it’s the start of the EP. It’s anticipatory, excited—wanting to scream in your face a bit, which is kind of what it does.”

Watch Out!
“This was the first track I made back in 2019. I got into this thing of making tunes at Christmas when I was at my mum’s house in Doncaster, because there’s nothing else to do. I originally made this with a lot of melodies in it but got really stuck creatively. So I stripped it all down, just to the sub and the breaks for the drop. It was quite a a bold track to make and it felt like one of the better things I’d made production-wise with the technicality of it and how I put it together. It helped me with my own levels of confidence as a producer, and I named the EP after it because it’s the one I’m most proud of.”

You Can’t Expect The Cars To Stop If You Haven’t Pressed The Button
“I went to Dublin last year, and found that their pelican crossing sounds are just mad. I thought, ‘I need to sample this.’ I took some field recordings, sampled a crossing in Peckham and also used my voice in it as well. I really wanted to swear on this track; I recorded me going, ‘Oh, for f**k's sake!’ because it’s what I say when I turn up to a crossing and someone hasn’t pressed the button—it’s just one of my pet peeves! This track doesn’t take itself too seriously and it’s quite fun. I don’t really take myself too seriously either and neither does my music, so I’m glad that a part of my personality came out in it. I want [listeners] to have a little giggle, and I want them to start pressing the button when they want to cross the road.”

Feierabend
“‘Feierabend’ translates to ‘free evening’ in German, it means: ‘the joy you feel when you finish work.’ The majority of the track was made after work one evening which is why I called it that; my friend [UK DJ and producer] Dance System and I were talking about the speed in which he makes tracks. He makes so many, all really quickly because he doesn’t want to get sick of a sample and lose his creative flow. I gave it a go to see how quickly I could make a track and this is what came out of it. It’s 156bpm, so not footwork but the bass at the beginning is quite footwork-y or juke-y. I love [US DJ and producer] Traxman, juke and footwork, and I think it reminded me of how he samples a lot of soul and will loop it. The vocals say ‘Friday’ and it all connects to that. It’d be nice if people listen to it just after they finish work for the weekend, and they’re getting excited.”

And Groove
“It’s obviously a bit more of a downtempo one. The individual piano keys are reminiscent of the deeper side of Chicago house, and the deep house that came out in the early ’90s. I made this one during lockdown in 2020, a period where I wasn’t really listening to much hardcore and super-heavy dance stuff. It was so painful to listen to hardcore because it would just make me miss outside, and I didn’t know when I was going to get it back. I was listening to a lot more downtempo and ‘And Groove’ came after that. It’s kind of reminiscent of a train journey, something I was missing. The lyrics are ‘on and on and groove,’ kind of like what the tune does itself, but then also like the rhythmic pattern of the train—the chugging along sort of thing.”

5 Tracks

May 19, 2020 at PDT

For You

India Jordan’s first EP feels like someone turning the valve on a cylinder of pent-up euphoria. The Doncaster-born producer and DJ has forged a reputation over the past 10 years as a resident DJ and club promoter across the northeast of England. But after starting to make music two years ago—and following 2019’s series of excellent and well-received singles—they’ve quickly singled themselves out as one of electronic music’s most enticing new prospects. “I called the EP For You because it’s been a bit of a dream of mine to have a record out,” they explain. “So I wanted to dedicate it to myself and be like, ‘This is what you’ve wanted forever, to have that physical piece of vinyl in your hand, and you’ve got it now, so well done.’” Everything from hardcore to liquid drum ’n’ bass is put through Jordan’s blender, and there’s an overwhelming sense of someone coming to terms with and celebrating themselves. With cover art shot in the toilets of legendary queer London venue Dalston Superstore and a track dedicated to the main character in Sarah Waters’ 1998 novel Tipping the Velvet, a celebration of India’s identity runs clear. But beyond that, the EP feels like an exuberant celebration of life itself. Here’s Jordan’s track-by-track guide.

I’m Waiting (Just 4 U)
“This track came from an experiment I did on my [2019] track ‘WARPER.’ Originally I was trying to put a vocal on ‘WARPER’ but I ditched it because it didn’t really work, but I decided the vocal was good enough on its own as this fun disco edit. It feels like a follow-up to my track ‘DNT STP MY LV’ from [2019] as it’s in the same disco style.”

For You
“This is the main single from the EP, and I made it on a train from London to Middlesbrough, where I was going to watch England’s women play Brazil in the football. I hadn’t seen my partner for a while as we’re long-distance, so all the energy in the track captures the excitement of that. I always try to make tracks on trains. It’s a really effective time and space where you just have nothing else to do. A lot of people think there’s an Orbital sample on the track, but it’s not. It’s from a sample pack that I then pitched up and down, and it sounds a bit like [1989 Orbital track] ‘Chime’ but it’s not intentional.”

Emotional Melodical
“I made this track when I was really sad. My partner had just moved up north while I was still in London and we were going through a bit of a difficult patch. I was in a bit of a pit of depression about it. I wanted to make a really cathartic emotional tune to help me process it all. It was super cathartic, and it’s me just outpouring all these feelings. It’s 140 BPM, so it’s a bit dubsteppy, I guess, but not dubstep. It’s the first time I’d tried to make something with a half-time break in it.”

Rave City
“I made this around the same time I made ‘I’m Waiting (Just 4 U),’ and I wanted to make a hardcore track with really euphoric piano in it. One thing I’ve realized since I started to make music two years ago is I’m really into big waves of synths which are filtered. It was called ‘Untitled Rave Track’ for ages.”

Westbourne Ave
“This is an ode to my early days DJing and being into drum ’n’ bass back in 2009. I was obsessed with Hospital Records, and it’s named ‘Westbourne Ave’ because that was the street in Hull I lived on when I learnt to DJ. It’s an ode to the gatekeeper d’n’b heads who made out that production was super hard and I wouldn’t be able to do it! I wanted to make a liquid d’n’b tune to prove them wrong.”

Dear Nan King
“Nan King is a character from Sarah Waters’ novel Tipping the Velvet, which is about queer characters in London in the 1890s. I saw the TV adaptation when I was 12 when I was just starting to figure out who I am, and it felt pretty revolutionary to me to see this representation on TV. I finally read the book and I just completely fell in love with it. It was the same time I was writing this tune, and the joy and excitement of reading that book really fed into the song, so I sampled a line from the show on it. There’s a line from the BBC adaptation at the end of the track that says, ‘There’s nothing wrong with me at all,’ and I thought it was a great way to end the EP.”

6 Tracks

September 3, 2021 at PDT

Boiler Room: I. JORDAN in London, Sep 4, 2021 (DJ Mix)

42 Tracks

February 1, 2023 at PST

Strong Remixes - Single

3 Tracks

May 31, 2021 at PDT

Pride 2021 (DJ Mix)

Powered by colorful keys, ecstatic vocal samples, and the life-giving jolt of classic breakbeat hardcore, India Jordan’s Watch Out! EP is about as optimistic as dance music gets, and the London DJ’s Pride mix runs on similar fuel. Having just moved to a new house in Southeast London, they recorded the mix in their bedroom on a sunny Sunday afternoon, feeling “fun, happy, queer,” they tell Apple Music. “I was feeling energized and inspired. I think being in a positive headspace brought out the best of me.” The tracklist covers plenty of ground—the hypnotic juke of Traxman’s “Spinning My Mind,” the punishing hard drum of FALSEBOI’s “Skin,” the cheeky old-school trance of Storm’s “It’s Time to Burn.” But no track brings a broader smile than Earth Boys’ dreamy “I Just Love It With You (Lxury Remix),” which Jordan tells us is their favorite track at the moment. “It’s really joyful and reminds me of a happy time.”

31 Tracks

May 9, 2024 at PDT

I AM JORDAN

Recent years have been full of change for I. JORDAN. The Doncaster-born producer has been on a meteoric rise, collaborating with the likes of SHERELLE and Fred again.. and taking their thundering, freewheeling DJ sets to packed clubs and festival stages across the globe. Closer to home, they have also been transitioning their gender. The result of this exhilarating, tumultuous, and life-affirming period now finds its expression on their debut album, I AM JORDAN. “It’s a collection of tracks that signify where I’m at as an artist and also serve as a snapshot of my life over the last few years,” they tell Apple Music. “It’s trans-led and full of trans artists, a celebration of my community.”

Across 12 tracks, I AM JORDAN showcases each aspect of the producer’s ever-evolving artistry, veering from paying tribute to the hardstyle and donk music they grew up hearing on “The Countdown” to euphoric trance synths on “Close to You,” hammering techno on “Butterlick” and an immersion in “wobby” basslines on “Round n Round.” “It’s a record by trans people, allowing us to be ourselves, which feels more important than ever,” they say. Read on for their in-depth thoughts on the album, track by track.

“When Lights Flash”
“This track feels like the encapsulation of a whirlwind. I had just landed in Melbourne while on tour and was feeling disoriented and jet-lagged. I wanted to make something experimental, so I started playing with a plug-in synth that produced this really dramatic sound that was unlike the music I usually make. It felt like a turning point in my creation of the album and something I needed to start it with—a siren or a call to action.”

“Casino High”
“I made this track a week after ‘When Lights Flash’ while I was still in Melbourne. I was staying in this high-rise and it reflects how energized and uplifted I was feeling in the city. I feel like it has a classic ‘me’ sound, since it’s the only track on the record with a sample and so is a nod to my earliest productions where I would sample quite a bit.”

“Real Hot n Naughty” (feat. Felix Mufti)
“I first met Felix when he was dancing for me at Homobloc festival a few years ago, and we became friends. I later found out he did rap and spoken word and knew I had to get him on some demos. As soon as I sent him this one, he fired back this hook right away, and it all happened really quickly. We wanted it to be a northern working-class queer anthem, which is tongue-in-cheek and punctuated by Felix’s Liverpool accent.”

“The Countdown” (feat. TAAHLIAH)
“I’ve been mates with TAAHLIAH for a while and, since we both grew up with donk and hardstyle and other northern working-class dance floor sounds, we decided to make ‘The Countdown’ as a celebration of that shared heritage and of our friendship. It always goes down really well when I play it live and is basically just a tribute to the fun we have together.”

“Butterlick” (feat. Sister Zo)
“I first met Sister Zo in a production workshop, and she sent me the drum loop you hear on this intro. It came at a time when I was making loads of tunes in preparation to play at Glastonbury 2022 and so those drums soon developed into this tune, which used to be called ‘For Glasto,’ since it ended up playing out really well there. It’s also a nod to my growing love of techno, which is really technically challenging to make well, so I’m very proud of it.”

“Reification and Pathetic Fallacy”
“I wrote this track on the train home after spending a week at a residency in Newcastle for trans artists. I was really inspired after being around all these different creatives and, while it was looking gloomy outside on the way back, this track just emerged. It’s me trying to put the overwhelming emotions I was feeling into sound, as well as connecting with the mood of the weather.”

“People Want Nice Things”
“Once I started taking testosterone, it led to changes in my voice that I wanted to document, so I began recording myself saying the phrase ‘People want nice things’ every month to track how my voice was dropping. Those recordings are part of this track, like an archive of the changes I’ve gone through to honor my transness, all set to a nice house tune!”

“Round n Round”
“I will always love ‘wobby’ sounds and basslines—those bass frequencies that anchor the sort of music I grew up listening to in clubs in Doncaster and Sheffield. ‘Round n Round’ is a tribute to that sound, as well as the music I have released before like ‘Hey Baby’ and ‘WARPER.’ I initially made it for a set I was playing at AVA festival in Belfast, where it really went off.”

“The Woodpecker”
“This is the oldest track on the record, which I started in 2020. I wasn’t going to include it on the album since it felt too heavy but my A&R convinced me otherwise! It’s got this intense hardstyle kick and wood-chopping sound, which made it the perfect tribute to my favorite bird, the woodpecker. Those who follow me online will know I’m a keen birdwatcher, so this is also a nod to that part of my life.”

“7 Degrees of Despondent”
“If you’re going to make a record that is a documentation of your life, you need to include the lows as well as the highs. This was written during a difficult period in 2021 when I was isolating with COVID and feeling pretty miserable. It was seven degrees outside, and I was feeling despondent—it’s not really a track for the club but rather something that speaks to the sadness we can sometimes all feel.”

“Close to You”
“After the mood of ‘7 Degrees of Despondent,’ this track switches it up by launching into a euphoric trance feeling. It came really quickly and was another one I made just before Glastonbury, encapsulating the feeling of hope and happiness for the summer to come. It felt like the perfect note for the record to draw to a close on.”

“Rapt Finis”
“I came up with ‘Rapt Finis’ after becoming really absorbed by playing this melody and the dramatic mood it creates, which isn’t really one for the club. In the same way that ‘When Lights Flash’ is something more experimental from me, setting the tone for the record to come, I wanted this closing number to bring people gently back down to earth as it ends.”

12 Tracks

March 13, 2022 at PDT

Beats In Space 016: I. JORDAN (DJ Mix)

17 Tracks

June 19, 2022 at PDT

Always Been - Single

3 Tracks

February 21, 2023 at PST

M1, M3 / GETOUTOFMYHEAD - Single

2 Tracks

May 2, 2019 at PDT

DNT STP MY LV - EP

5 Tracks

August 23, 2022 at PDT

Hey Baby - Single

3 Tracks

October 14, 2020 at PDT

Let's Go! - Single

1 Trackfalse

October 9, 2023 at PDT

TNB - Single

2 Tracks

September 24, 2022 at PDT

I. Jordan at CRSSD Festival Fall '22: The Palms (DJ Mix)

18 Tracks

September 24, 2019 at PDT

WARPER - Single

2 Tracks

April 4, 2021 at PDT

Only Said Enough (Edit) - Single

1 Trackfalse

January 4, 2024 at PST

Ninja Tune Presents: Fitness with I. JORDAN (DJ Mix)

I. JORDAN is pulling no punches when it comes to this fitness mix. “This is a high-energy mix featuring the finest techno, some hardcore, and lots and lots of fast-paced tracks,” the DJ and producer tells Apple Music. Here, you can expect a pulse-raising lineup of tracks by artists including DJ Love, Dist, Chlär, David LaFhionntain, Funk Assault (the duo made up of Chlär and Alarico), and Schranzformator. And this mix comes with a promise from its creator: “This will definitely get you through your workout,” adds I. JORDAN. Ready, steady, go.

18 Tracks

December 9, 2021 at PST

All About Love / Big B - Single

3 Tracks

December 18, 2019 at PST

H.U.R.L / F.U.R.L - Single

2 Tracks

April 15, 2019 at PDT

DNT STP MY LV - Single

1 Trackfalse

November 15, 2022 at PST

Give It 2 Me - Single

3 Tracks

April 25, 2024 at PDT

Ninja Tune Presents: I. JORDAN (DJ Mix)

Taking a second go at the helm of Ninja Tune Presents with this May 2024 mix, I. JORDAN emphasizes both the “DJ” and “producer” in DJ/producer, treating us to early listens to their own upcoming tunes as well as serving up the spirit-lifting cuts they’ve been playing out in clubland. “I have played lots and lots of new music from my debut album I AM JORDAN,” they tell Apple Music. “I’ve included six whole tracks from the album in this mix, never heard before and never played out in a mix before so I hope you enjoy them. I have also included lots of new music that I have been playing in clubs recently, some of my favorite tracks and feel-good dance music. Hope you enjoy!”

18 Tracks

November 30, 2021 at PST

All About Love (Edit) - Single

1 Trackfalse