Alice Youngling on DJing and Cultural Preservation
Swiss-born and Barcelona-based producer Alice Youngling returns to the Non Merci Music label on September 25 with her latest single, “May I Please.” Having established herself through a residency at Tunnel and performances alongside artists like Eats Everything and Dennis Ferrer, Youngling has cultivated a sound defined by rhythmic intensity and a profound reverence for the origins of house music.
Her latest track exemplifies this ethos, blending emotive vocals, swinging percussion, and warm, filtered chords into a cohesive club-ready arrangement. While the music is engineered for the dance floor, it avoids feeling impersonal, opting instead to weave together contemporary production techniques with the soulful swing characteristic of the genre’s heritage.
Youngling’s creative process is deeply informed by her study of electronic music’s foundations. She credits the book The Underground Is Massive with providing her a roadmap of house music’s evolution, tracing its trajectory from disco to the vital contributions of Black, Latino, and queer communities. “I religiously went through the book’s tracklist and listened to every track, and it really connected the dots for me,” she explains. “It made me wish I could have been there back then to experience those beginnings.”
For Youngling, the role of the modern DJ extends beyond mere selection. She views the profession as an act of archival stewardship. “I once read somewhere that DJs are living archives, and it stuck with me,” she notes. “DJs have the power to create connections between the past and present, bringing back memories while creating new ones. I believe this is the duty of the DJ.”
This perspective is further shaped by her time with the Barcelona collective Cabana Libre, where she produced events that moved club music into daylight settings, emphasizing community building and creative expression. By prioritizing these connections, she aims to ensure that the spirit of the music remains vibrant rather than static. As she continues to refine her own sound, Youngling remains focused on translating the emotional core of house music for contemporary audiences, striving to ensure that every record she releases contributes to the ongoing legacy of the genre.