Some DJs chase moments, others build frameworks for them to happen. David Ramsay belongs firmly in the latter.
Rooted in London's queer underground, his work extends beyond the DJ booth, he is embedded in the community, the infrastructure and the long-term shaping of spaces where music and identity intersect.
His sound reflects that same layered thinking. Drawing from the lineage of Detroit and Chicago, and the raw circuitry of acid house, Ramsay's sets move through techno and house with both range and restraint.
Since 2020, Ramsay has been steadily threading himself into the fabric of London nightlife. Playing at nights like Unfold and sharing lineups with artists such as Robert Hood and Ben Klock. These are not just milestones, they are reference points. Signals of alignment with a deeper tradition of dance music, rooted in repetition and control.
But Ramsay's impact doesn't stop at performance.
As the founder of Yes Babe! and co-organizer of All Black Queer Techno, his work actively addresses a persistent imbalance within electronic music, creating platforms that centre underrepresented talent.
It's here that his philosophy becomes clearest, scenes are built, they don't just happen. The same mindset carries into how he approaches music itself.
"I like to buy music from artists and labels that I'm interested in or follow" he says. There is a deliberate support system embedded in that choice. "I also like to go digging for vinyls in record shops...looking for things that I might find interesting, something that's new or different". It's a balance between curation and discovery. Between knowing what you're looking for and staying open to what you're not.
And then, like any good system, it comes alive in execution. On the dance floor, Ramsay isn't chasing peaks, he's shaping the journey.
"I want to take people on a journey but create something new out of things that already exist" he explains, "The way that DJs would elevate those songs into something new by the way they mixed was quite mind blowing and inspiring and that's something I want to conjure up and create when I'm playing."
The idea, transformation through combination, is the main factor. His tracks are components rather than fixed in place. They are his tools to be recontextualized, layered and stretched together. The result is something that feels both familiar and entirely new.
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Ramsay's approach is structural, prioritising depth, community and process. In doing so, it points to something bigger than just a set. It suggested that the future of the underground isn't just about who plays, but about who builds.
