ANDREW EMIL
CHANGE REQUEST | BROADWAY & WILSON | AFTER MONDAY | UPTOWN TONES | SUNDAY SCOUNDRELS | CROWN HEIGHTS ROYAL | DICHOTOMY
The Longtime Chicago House Music DJ and Producer, Neal Andrew Emil Gustafson, has been a respected fixture and familiar face in the vibrant Chicago and global music scene for over two decades. Part of Chicago’s 3rd wave of house music artists, his musical background begins with being a concert-trained percussionist since age 11. Originally from KCMO, he earned a chair in the Kansas City Symphony before moving to Chicago in the late nineties to attend Columbia College Chicago.
While studying acoustical engineering and music composition with Gustavo Leone, Ilya Levinson, and Andy Hill, Emil began his recording career as an assistant engineer to Vince Lawrence at Chicago Trax Studios. During his time at Columbia, he embarked on a prolific production discography—racking up over 200+ production credits—diligently producing projects for some of house music’s most prominent labels, including remixes for diverse artists such as Common, Kanye West, Little Louie Vega, Jamie Principle, Steve “Silk” Hurley, Iz & Diz, Fast Eddie, Shalamar, Roland Clark, David Morales, Colette, Amp Fiddler, JT Donaldson, and Gene Farris, to name a few.
In 2012, Emil introduced the Change Request project, a musical endeavor that expanded beyond dancefloor singles to incorporate a mix of up-tempo, mid-tempo, downtempo, and ambient compositions. After the release of this project’s first EP, the Change Theory on four play music, came the project’s debut single on Seasons Recordings with “After All”, then another single featuring house music icon, Chez Damier, “I Wanna Go Back”—which included a remarkable rework from Glenn Underground—on Glenview Records.
In addition to his work as a producer and session musician, music arranger, and orchestrator, Emil ventured into experimental and abstract music, archiving numerous tracks for future releases. This creative output eventually led to the founding of AstraVox Music, an electronic-orchestral imprint, with media composer Nathaniel Smith. This effort saw Emil exploring what he refers to as “incidental dramatic music” with a string of releases that have come to define this unique type of tone poem. Producing works like the Light Years EP, Long Distance EP, and Kinetic Propulsion EP, he showcased his evolving approach to atmospheric sound design and sonic storytelling.
Building on this evolution, Emil crafted four conceptual albums under the Change Request project. The first is RiteOnRed for Dufflebag Recordings, the second album coming out in four parts (by the seasons), with Neural Nocturnes—Autumn, Summer, Winter, and Spring Vibes on Campo Alegre Productions—Then, the Theoretical Certainty LP on the Minneapolis record label, Abstrakt Xpressions, and the fourth LP, All We Have Is Time, releasing in 2025 on Lisbon’s Percebes Música.
Simultaneously, he continues to create memorable dance music moments with recent releases such as his Nite Dreams EP on Germany’s Yore Records, his remixes of Robert Owens’ “Ping Pong” on Musical Directions, and his standout “Be Dramatic” featuring Saucy Lady for Vol. 1 of the Crazy P Curate series on the UK’s 20/20 Vision. In recognition of his contributions, Emil was invited to join the Chicago chapter of The Recording Academy’s New Member Class in 2024.
He has worked as the Marketing Partners Manager for the benchmark international effects processing pioneers, Waves Audio, as the Plug-in Marketing Strategist at GRAMMY® Award-winning audio effects firm, Eventide Audio, as the Professional Audio Product Owner at IK Multimedia, and as the Software Marketing Manager for inMusic Brands such as Moog Music, AKAI Professional, AIR Music Tech, Alesis, Revalver, and BFD Drums. As a music tech journalist, copywriter, and content editor, he is well known for his celebrated editorials with articles regularly making best-of lists (Best Of Attack 2019), such as The Genesis of Synthesis: Ten Reasons Why The Juno Is The Greatest Synthesizer Of All Time.
Andrew Emil co-founded Viva Acid, a community-based music summit in Chicago. The yearly conference seeks to showcase the unique contributions of Chicago House Music to DJ culture across a structured program that focuses on history, culture, creativity, community, and education. Viva Acid highlights these subjects across multiple days of experiential talks, workshops, fireside chats, in-store performances, daytime parties, and nightclub events.
His involvement in the Chicago music scene also includes co-planning and producing the 2024 Chicago House Music Festival at Millennium Park. The multi-day festival featured performances by prominent artists and panels with industry leaders like Ira Antelis, Vince Lawrence, Steve “Silk” Hurley, and five-time GRAMMY®-winning producer “Jimmy Jam” Harris. Emil performed alongside acts like Karizma, Tony Touch, and Anane Vega to an audience of over 40,000.