Jordan Peak opens up about his journey in electronic music, the creation of MaCHiNE HOUSE, and breaking boundaries with his latest releases.
For Jordan Peak, music is more than a profession, it’s an ongoing game where the rules are constantly being rewritten, and he’s determined to stay ahead of the curve. He’s long been recognized as a force in the dance music scene, with a career spanning over a decade of crafting house and techno. Tipped early on by DJ Mag and BBC Radio 1’s Pete Tong as one to watch, he has lived up to that promise with releases on respected labels like Moxy Muzik, Edible, and his own Peak Trax imprint.
With praise from industry heavyweights, Jordan’s polished sound continues to evolve, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in dance music. His latest venture sees him debut on Patrick Topping’s Trick label with a standout release, “I Need A Freak.” Inspired by a night out at London’s iconic club fabric, the track features a compelling vocal twist where Jordan used AI to transform his voice into a female-sounding lead, adding a unique touch to the track’s energy.
After its release, Jordan Peak swung by to talk about the creative process behind the “I Need A Freak,” which embodies his exploration of his self-defined “MaCHiNE HOUSE” sound. Jordan also opened up about his motivations, sharing insights into his decision to balance a career in music with a regular day job, as well as the personal philosophy that drives his relentless pursuit of excellence.
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Hey Jordan, thanks for sitting down with us today!
Thank you for having me. It’s my pleasure!
Congrats on the release of “I Need a Freak” on Patrick Topping’s Trick. Can you tell us how the song came to be?
Thank you very much; this is a really personal record for me as it’s my first attempt at writing a full song, not sampling anyone’s vocals or making a loopy club thing but an actual song with verses and chorus! The whole idea for the song came from seeing the t-shirts the staff wear at Fabric in London. That club is my personal favorite in the world. I was hanging out there one night, and the staff wore t-shirts that said “Don’t be a creep” on them in big, bold letters. For some reason, I was mesmerized by them, and the lyrics to the hook just came to me.
The lyrics changed slightly, and I reworded the original idea to get maximum impact. Originally, the line I came up with was “I want a real man who can make me weak,” but then I thought that was too ’90s and a bit dated, so I changed it to “I want a real one who can make me weak,” which I thought sounded much more 2024 in terms of the way people speak. Also, it means that any gender and sexuality can be connected to the lyrics.
The first verse was originally a lot more XXX rated “tie me up and do that thing with your tongue, close my eyes the surprise is the fun”, but I thought the song was already full of innuendos, so I kept the melody the same and changed the lyrics to “don’t stop going don’t stop till I’m done, don’t stop going cos I need a real one,” back to the REAL ONE slang again because I hear people say it all the time, read it a lot in 2024 social media and also the connotation of what that phrase means and it works with the story and the theme of the song.
I had written the lyrics before I made the beat, and I had that for months. I wasn’t sure how I wanted the track’s instrumentation to sound, so I went through music and came back to Chris Lorenzo x COBRAH‘s “Mami.” I thought it needed a similar vibe to that but with my take on it.
I’ve been trying to create my own style, which I call MaCHiNE HOUSE, for the last few years. There’s a big electro and a big bass influence, plus I use the power of AI to change my voice. The whole vocal for the song is actually me! I know it’s a female-sounding vocal, but it’s me using an AI voice changer. I know it needed to be a female vocal for max effect, as some songs and lyrics work better depending on the gender they are coming from. That’s my unaltered voice during the breakdown, so I’m basically doing a duet with myself. [Laughs]
What was it like working with Patrick Topping for this release?
It’s awesome. The whole team at Trick is a joy to work with. I can’t thank Patty T and the whole team enough for all their help with the project.
You’ve been in the music industry for a while now. How do you continue to stay motivated? How did you originally decide to do music full-time?
I don’t do music full time; I was lucky enough to get to see what doing it full time was like when I was younger, and I hated it, in all honesty. I’m a hard worker and actually missed having a regular day job to go to and get out of the house, and I missed being around non-music industry people, not just people from the DJ and nightlife scene all the time. I still make music like it’s a “full-time job,” but that’s because I love doing it. To me, making music and DJing are like playing computer games but more fun.
In computer games, even open-world ones, you’re still limited in what you can do, but with music, there’s so much freedom in what you can do! I can make a disco house track one day, a techno track the next day, or a tech house track that slows down to hip hop tempo in the middle then comes back up to house tempo the next, or even an emotional, melodic track one day or weird bleepy, bassy thing the next. I can sample vocals, write vocals, work with other songwriters, vocalists, and producers, or make complete instrumental tracks and play all of those tracks as a DJ. It’s all just like one big Playstation game to me, but better!
Motivation-wise, whatever I get into, I HAVE TO BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD at it; it’s just me. I can’t help it.
Looking back on your career, what was the moment that defined you as an artist?
Every single moment from the start to today, to what’s yet to come, to me, they are ALL IMPORTANT, no matter how big or small, and a good artist is always developing and improving. If you think you can’t improve on anything, then you should stop what you’re doing immediately and get out of the field because that tells me you’re an egotistical idiot, no matter how successful you are or how long you have been doing it. I’m always looking to get better and see how I can push music forward and blow people’s minds.
What’s next for your label, Peak Trax?
I have a new single coming out later this year at some point, maybe in November, and I’m working out what one to release next. I have hundreds of unreleased songs, so it’s more a case of which one I decide to put on there. It will be a continuation of my MaCHiNE HOUSE sound I’m trying to develop though.
With two big releases already this year, can we expect any more new music soon?
There’s the next Peak Trax release I mentioned, a track on a V/A for Menesix’s Ovrdose Records, a track on a V/A for Reelow’s label Reecords, a remix on Four Thirty Two and other demos I’m chasing up with labels. I basically never stop making and sending stuff out!
Do you have any specific goals or aspirations for the future that you’d like to share? Any exciting news coming soon?
I’m here to change the game; I know I can.
You’ve worked with various labels, including Moxy Muzik, Edible, and Trick. How do you decide which labels to release on?
The longer I’ve done this, the more I’ve realised you really can’t plan things too much. You can try to make a song you think those labels would love. You could play it to other people and they would go, “Oh, this would be perfect for X label!” play that track out at a party, get amazing reactions and footage of it going off, get plenty of ID requests, and DMs for it, and then you send it to the label you know it would be perfect for, and people have told you “I can see X signing this,” and it gets rejected, or you never hear back.
My process is as simple as this: I make some music I like the sound of, and then I send it to the labels and see what they say; that’s it, and that’s all you can do, really. That is the most exciting and scary thing about music: THERE ARE NO RULES!
What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned in your music career, both personally and professionally?
I’ve mentioned a few in the previous questions, and I’ve hoped they have helped, but here’s one more. Be YOUnique. That goes for everything, just be YOUnique.
Thank you so much for your time, Jordan. We’re looking forward to seeing what’s next for you! Catch you at a show soon!
No, thank you, it means a lot. Don’t forget you can stream and download “I Need A Freak” now. Much love!
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