Karl X Johan | Never Leave Me (Change Request 2M19 Mix)

For this 2M19 Mix, I went subaquatic, submerging the first single from the Swedish duo's debut.

Released on Stockholm’s #Emotion imprint, “Never Leave Me” was the first single off of Swedish electro-pop duo Karl X Johan debut album in 2014.

The tune itself is a looped slice of synthetic euphoria with a sticky hook that repeats the titular refrain boldly. I was drawn to its ominous vocals and lyrical content, reminiscent of Peter Gabriel.

Saturating this slice of electronic pop with soulful synthetics, I crafted a new version and laced it with electric bass, Prophet pads, multi-rhythmic reverberated pluck patterns, and a straight-up-the-middle rhythm section.

The extended vocal dub and the instrumental version of my mix are included here.

Enjoy!

@AndrewEmil

@ChangeRequest

Website: bit.ly/2Vc9qOv

Facebook: bit.ly/2vvHZQb

Soundcloud: bit.ly/2vDI30h

Instagram: bit.ly/2J87UFH

Karl X Johan | Never Leave Me (Change Request 2M19 Mix)

For this 2M19 Mix, I went subaquatic, submerging the first single from the Swedish duo's debut.

Released on Stockholm’s #Emotion imprint, “Never Leave Me” was the first single off of Swedish electro-pop duo Karl X Johan debut album in 2014.

The tune itself is a looped slice of synthetic euphoria with a sticky hook that repeats the titular refrain boldly. I was drawn to its ominous vocals and lyrical content, reminiscent of Peter Gabriel.

Saturating this slice of electronic pop with soulful synthetics, I crafted a new version and laced it with electric bass, Prophet pads, multi-rhythmic reverberated pluck patterns, and a straight-up-the-middle rhythm section.

The extended vocal dub and the instrumental version of my mix are included here.

Enjoy!

@AndrewEmil

@ChangeRequest

Website: bit.ly/2Vc9qOv

Facebook: bit.ly/2vvHZQb

Soundcloud: bit.ly/2vDI30h

Instagram: bit.ly/2J87UFH

Vladimir Petrovic | Ballade (Change Request Nocturne)


For this re-rub, I used clips of a video I found on Facebook of an artist whose work I have become to really admire. Serbian artist Vladimir Petrovic is a producer of lush electric soul music with a decided focus on his virtuosic guitar playing.  


This particular song of his was a thirty-second video clip that checked off all the boxes for me as far as sound design, harmonic motion, and orchestration. 

However, it needs a rhythm section with more vivacity, an arrangement that highlighted the original musical ideas and source material in a way that let them breathe, and benefited from a few connective passing musical gestures ornamenting his fantastic guitar work and tone. 


I hope you all enjoy this emotive sliver of Musical Noir with my Nocturnal take on this delectable electric nu-jazz poem. 


Written by Vladimir Petrovic in Belgrade, Serbia.

Additional production and arrangement by Neal Andrew Emil Gustafson in Chicago, IL.

Enjoy! 


@AndrewEmil 

@ChangeRequest 

Website: bit.ly/2Vc9qOv  

Facebook: bit.ly/2vvHZQb  

Soundcloud: bit.ly/2vDI30h  

Instagram: bit.ly/2J87UFH

Perseus | Cool Runnings (Change Request 2M19 Mix)

For this remix, I update a very frequent summertime selection of mine from the French Express label founder, Perseus.

“Cool Runnings” was released in 2012 on the New York City imprint on his Russian Girlfriends EP. It features prominently vocal samples from “After The Club” by Ashanti.

This track has always been a favorite of mine since it’s release, but I felt is always needed more drum programming and a longer extended arrangement for my liking, which is what I did here.

Enjoy!

@AndrewEmil 

@ChangeRequest 

Website: bit.ly/2Vc9qOv  

Facebook: bit.ly/2vvHZQb  

Soundcloud: bit.ly/2vDI30h  

Instagram: bit.ly/2J87UFH

@FrenchExpress

Website: bit.ly/2xsmelm

Facebook: bit.ly/322xAdT

Soundcloud: bit.ly/30a2QWF

Instagram: bit.ly/2J6D4gd

Change Request | Hommage à Philippe

This was created in memoriam to Philippe “Zdar” Cerboneschi, the highly influential production maestro. Cerboneschi became one of the fathers of the French Touch movement, as half of the duo Motorbass with Étienne de Crécy, but later joining forces with Hubert Blanc-Fracard to form Cassius.

His work over the years included these two personal projects and La Funk Mob, as well as producing recordings for Kanye West, Daft Punk, the Beastie Boys, Pharrell Williams, Franz Ferdinand, The Rapture, Hot Chip, Mc Solaar, and the band Phoenix, to which he won a Grammy Award for with 2009’s “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”.

For this Hommage, I finally produced an idea that I had for some time now to rework a sample from a favorite Phoenix song—unfortunate it took his passing to prioritize it—he produced, called “Too Young”. This song has been embedded in my subconscious for many years and it’s an exemplary representation of the type of timeless nature of Zdar’s work.

Using the chorus section, I built the entire piece around this harmonic motion and took it entirely somewhere else. Ambitiously, I tried to capture the same emotive qualities of the original whilst detouring a directional shift. I included audio excerpts from a Telegram interview with him (Dans Le Studio de Philippe Zdar).

For further understanding of his distinctive techniques, explore this comprehensive production discussion with Zdar from December 2018: Speakhertz | Philippe Zdar Interview: bit.ly/2WVt6a0

RIP Philippe “Zdar” Cerboneschi

@AndrewEmil

@ChangeRequest

Website: bit.ly/2Vc9qOv 

Facebook: bit.ly/2vvHZQb 

Soundcloud: bit.ly/2vDI30h 

Instagram: bit.ly/2J87UFH

Andrew Emil Feat. Mz. Gabriela & Reggie Hall | When She Spoke (Original Extended Mix)

This record came out 14 years ago, but I produced it 16 years ago. I wrote this when I was 22 years old, and it was one of the first records where I felt the push to make organic mid-tempo jazz-laden deep house music.

Mz. Gabriela Rodriguez and I met as she was a regular at a weekly house night called 3Degrees, held every Weds at a former Chicago mainstay club, Zentra. She is a very talented wordsmith and dynamic human. This song features sections I pull out of her poem, “When Patrica Spoke”

The vocals came by way of an emerging friendship that was just developing with Glenn Underground, Boo, Tim Harper, Cei Bei, and the rest of the Strictly Jaz Unit. I used to hang with GU at his place out south, and wrote a few things together, and learned much more than I could have ever imagined about effortless mastery from the most prolific dance music maestro in all of Chicago.

Glenn was an advocate for me early on and would link me up with different session players and singers, knowing that I would be able to return the favor with my session work. One such session singer was Ten City, Joe Smooth, Paris Mitchell, and Quintin Harris collaborator and session singer, Reggie Hall.

This might even have been the actual birth of the Change Request project and sound, as I do remember from this period on, writing mid-tempo live instrument focused jazz-dance-fusion songs, and not really knowing where to take them for release, as they would—of course—need remixes to appeal to the dance floor.

As much as I completely understand this point, I really wanted to explore what and where these types of grooves, moods, and tempos would fit in at and who they would appeal to.

This is music you can listen to all day long, it’s got all the elements to relax and reflect, but also contains the right formula to be utilized for dance recreation. This type of hybrid use case music was something that highly intrigued me then, and is a focus of much of my work now on Change Request projects.

I was grateful to find a label and an A&R who believed in this project and sound. Sean Smith was getting his label Smooth Agent Records off the ground and with the promise of a Johnny Fiasco remix to sweeten the offer, I knew this was the right decision for a 22-year-old to make with one of my first all original projects that I wrote every part for.

However, as it was a surprise to me, my Original Extended Mix wasn’t the one that made it to the single. It was an edit that Sean did, and It wasn’t a bad edit, but it wasn’t my Original Mix.

For the very first time in a decade in a half, I am making the Original Extended Mix and the Original Extended Instrumental available to the public as a FREE Download.

This record was a very special one for me in shaping my confidence in trusting my musical instincts—creating ideas that speak to my artistic vision first—then, figuring out what to do with the recordings after, and not the other way around.

Enjoy!

@AndrewEmil

@ChangeRequest

Website: bit.ly/2Vc9qOv 

Facebook: bit.ly/2vvHZQb 

Soundcloud: bit.ly/2vDI30h 

Instagram: bit.ly/2J87UFH

When She Spoke

(Smooth Agent Records)

YouTube: bit.ly/2FeNt7s

Discogs: bit.ly/2IhBiZa

Spotify: spoti.fi/2Kkxo41

iTunes: apple.co/2IhZtXx

FOUR FOUR BEAT (ASCAP)

Andrew Emil Feat. Mz. Gabriela & Reggie Hall | When She Spoke (Original Extended Mix)

This record came out 14 years ago, but I produced it 16 years ago. I wrote this when I was 22 years old, and it was one of the first records where I felt the push to make organic mid-tempo jazz-laden deep house music.

Mz. Gabriela Rodriguez and I met as she was a regular at a weekly house night called 3Degrees, held every Weds at a former Chicago mainstay club, Zentra. She is a very talented wordsmith and dynamic human. This song features sections I pull out of her poem, “When Patrica Spoke”

The vocals came by way of an emerging friendship that was just developing with Glenn Underground, Boo, Tim Harper, Cei Bei, and the rest of the Strictly Jaz Unit. I used to hang with GU at his place out south, and wrote a few things together, and learned much more than I could have ever imagined about effortless mastery from the most prolific dance music maestro in all of Chicago.

Glenn was an advocate for me early on and would link me up with different session players and singers, knowing that I would be able to return the favor with my session work. One such session singer was Ten City, Joe Smooth, Paris Mitchell, and Quintin Harris collaborator and session singer, Reggie Hall.

This might even have been the actual birth of the Change Request project and sound, as I do remember from this period on, writing mid-tempo live instrument focused jazz-dance-fusion songs, and not really knowing where to take them for release, as they would—of course—need remixes to appeal to the dance floor.

As much as I completely understand this point, I really wanted to explore what and where these types of grooves, moods, and tempos would fit in at and who they would appeal to.

This is music you can listen to all day long, it’s got all the elements to relax and reflect, but also contains the right formula to be utilized for dance recreation. This type of hybrid use case music was something that highly intrigued me then, and is a focus of much of my work now on Change Request projects.

I was grateful to find a label and an A&R who believed in this project and sound. Sean Smith was getting his label Smooth Agent Records off the ground and with the promise of a Johnny Fiasco remix to sweeten the offer, I knew this was the right decision for a 22-year-old to make with one of my first all original projects that I wrote every part for.

However, as it was a surprise to me, my Original Extended Mix wasn’t the one that made it to the single. It was an edit that Sean did, and It wasn’t a bad edit, but it wasn’t my Original Mix.

For the very first time in a decade in a half, I am making the Original Extended Mix and the Original Extended Instrumental available to the public as a FREE Download.

This record was a very special one for me in shaping my confidence in trusting my musical instincts—creating ideas that speak to my artistic vision first—then, figuring out what to do with the recordings after, and not the other way around.

Enjoy!

@AndrewEmil

@ChangeRequest

Website: bit.ly/2Vc9qOv 

Facebook: bit.ly/2vvHZQb 

Soundcloud: bit.ly/2vDI30h 

Instagram: bit.ly/2J87UFH

When She Spoke

(Smooth Agent Records)

YouTube: bit.ly/2FeNt7s

Discogs: bit.ly/2IhBiZa

Spotify: spoti.fi/2Kkxo41

iTunes: apple.co/2IhZtXx

FOUR FOUR BEAT (ASCAP)

Vulfpeck | Disco Ulysses (Andrew Emil Dreamix)

For this Dreamix, I finally got around to reworking a song from one of today’s foremost funk phenomenons, the formidable force known as Vulfpeck.

Cory Wong, Jack Stratton, Theo Katzman, Woody Goss, and Joe Dart have made a career out of absolutely electric rhythmic counterpoint, virtuosic pocket playing, and crafting grooves that are just as infectious as they are memorable.

I made an extended—Bathroom Break Mix—version of their recently released instrumental, Disco Ulysses. A rework that explores longer arrangements, many further developed orchestrations, additional drum programming, and clocks in at a bit slower tempo.

Designed For The Discerning

Enjoy!

@AndrewEmil

@ChangeRequest

Website: bit.ly/2Vc9qOv 

Facebook: bit.ly/2vvHZQb 

Soundcloud: bit.ly/2vDI30h 

Instagram: bit.ly/2J87UFH

@Vulfpeck

Disco Ulysses

Video: bit.ly/2WzLtkP

Bandcamp: bit.ly/2KdEfMX

Website: bit.ly/2F0N7RE

Facebook: bit.ly/2ZeVsZE

Madonna | Live To Tell (Change Request ReVision)

For this ReVision, I went after a top-three song from this artist and one that is considered the most exceptional ballad she ever wrote.

"Live to Tell" is the lead single from Madonna's third studio album, 1986's True Blue and It became Madonna's third number-one single in the US, and her second number-one that is featured in a film after "Crazy for You."

Written by Patrick Leonard for the score of the film Fire with Fire, the instrumental was shown to Madonna, who decided to use it for her husband Sean Penn's film At Close Range. She then wrote the lyrics and co-wrote/produced them with Leonard.

I have always loved this instrumental for its classic 80s instrumentation, synth choices, drum machines, and iconic early digital reverb.

The drum sound on this recording makes use of a recently developed technique at that time of gating the spatial effects returns of the drum tracks. The gate opens and closes quickly giving a nurse of huge transient and attack, but cuts the sustain and removes the decay of the reverb as to make the drums, especially the snare, jump out of the speakers.

This intentional use of a noise age as a creative device in this manner is a now-standard recording technique called gated-reverb. However, this technique was invented by accident while producer Steve Lillywhite and engineer Hugh Padgham were recording Phil Collins drum tracks on the song "Intruder" off Peter Gabriel's third studio album.

Collins would go on to make this sound a centerpiece of his work with almost every single hit record he made after this featuring this gated reverb drum sound.

For this ReVision, I actually for the first time, used parts of the original record, as I want to re-arrange this song for some time now.

Eventide's SP2016, the Lexicon224, and the EMT250 reverb is THE sound of the era as some of the first rack-mounted studio processors were being introduced. The entire tone of 1980s recordings arts can pretty much be summed up with just these three spatial effects alone.

I added a relevant rhythm section and drum programming, using these classic reverbs, added many more synthesis layers and harmonic textures, some string melodies, rhythm guitar, and a re-written keyboard part in the section in the bridge with a classic Yamaha DX7.

Brazill Feat. Cheri Soul | Needing Your Love (Change Request Dreamix)

Being very fortunate to have crossed paths, as we see very much eye to eye about our perspectives on exploring and designing sound, it’s rare that I can find a writing partner that has as diverse of taste in music that they write, can keep up and has the chops.

One of the most important musicians I have worked with—consistently—writing a total near 40 projects together—over the past three years is a local multi-instrumentalist who might recognize from his sessions shredding your transit wait to pieces while he plays in the Jackson Blue Line Station weekly.

Adrian Davis (Adr Brazil/Brazill) is a virtuosic guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer of sensual future R&B, has a long history of live performance in many rock ensembles before he found his way to the music production world, digital audio workstations, and the limitless world of virtualized instruments and effect processors.

We exchange work, sit in on each other’s sessions, and directly write music together, many of our first songs together will be released on my Change Request album for the Minneapolis label, Abstrakt Xpressions coming this September.

Last year, as Adrian was putting together his next solo record, which is amazing, and he just began to shop around the full LP. Having a few of the singles done for some time, he asked I would like to remix one, and this song he did with the Chicago-based songstress, Cheri Soul, always stuck out to me.

For this remix, I took a four to the floor dance records, slowed it down, spaced it out, and created a love acid jazz meets smooth jazz, with all that jazz.

Thanks for all the sincere and endearing birthday well wishes!

@AndrewEmil

@ChangeRequest

Website: bit.ly/2Vc9qOv 

Facebook: bit.ly/2vvHZQb 

Soundcloud: bit.ly/2vDI30h 

Instagram: bit.ly/2J87UFH