SELECT something NOT EQUAL to????

H-

I have a sql query that I'm constructing and I need it to select all the
records that are not part of these other records.

For instance.
$project_id = "1";

table "records"
project_id int4
employee_id int4

and contains 5 records
project_id employee_id
1 2
1 3
2 4
2 2
2 5

table "list"
employee_id int4
name varchar(64)

and contains 4 records
employee_id name
2 John Doe
3 Jane Doe
4 Bill Smith
5 John Denver

I have this statement.
$sql = "SELECT DISTINCT e.employee_id, e.name, s.project_id
FROM list e, records s
WHERE s.project_id != '$project_id'
ORDER BY last_name ASC";

Now I know that the != isn't part of postgres but I can't figure out
what the equivalent operation would be.
I've read the postgres guide under WHERE clause but didn't see anything
that seemed appropriate, or would work when I plugged it in. > <> >=
etc. nothing.
It doesn't throw an error when using the != sign though but returns all
records of table list.

I want it to return all names in list (using employee_id) that aren't
already in the records field for a particular project. That would mean
the results should only return names that are in project_id 2 which is
THREE records for employee_id's 4,2,5 and those record's name.

I was earlier able to get the query to pull all records and names
associated with a particular project by using a similar string, but that
was using e.employee_id=s.employee_id and it pulled all the records fine
and only the appropriate records.

DB isn't my strong suit and I usually get stuff done through trial and
error, examples online and basic knowledge but this sql query is not
going well.

If any one has any thoughts or suggestions it'd be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
-Sterling