Background Info...

Who are you? My name is Richard Morley. I'm a research chemist by day and DJ & web author by night, based in Bristol, UK.

Why the web site? It's a long story, but this is it in a nutshell... Back in 1994 I discovered a "different" type of music to that what I had grown up with and what had been imposed on me by the media. This discovery happened through a series of events which started at the Glastonbury Festival and led me on to Whirl-Y-Gig at the Reading WOMAD Festival. What I heard there opened my ears to a fantastic broad spectrum of music ranging from world beats through to Western style trance. On stage I saw the likes of Astralasia, Banco-de-Gaia, Joi, Moodswings (with Chrissy Hynde) and Transglobal Underground; at the time these were all new names to me. In the following years I frequented Whirl-Y-Gig regularly at its home in Shoreditch (London) and started collecting the type of music played there. In 1996 I started writing this web site as a way of sharing the information about the music I was collecting. I called it "Global Trance & Dance", since much of the music was trance with global influences. Since its humble beginnings as a small site on Geocities it has grown into a site covering over 400 artists, updated regularly with reviews of new music as and when I buy it.

Why haven't you made the site commercial? Many people have e-mailed me in the past and asked why i've not made the site commercial. The reason for keeping the site independent is simple:- once money is involved the true passion lying behind the site and the honest opinions voiced here will be clouded by investors and those providing the music. For that reason I wish to maintain this site privately. If artists, labels and promoters wish to send me their music then I will accept it, but the majority of the music featuring on this site is what I have bought myself.

I'm a music producer / record label. How do I get my music listed on this site? Simply email me at rich_morley@hotmail.com and I can send you instructions.

So why do it? What do you gain from this site? As you may have guessed, a lot of hard work and many hours have been spent on this site over the past few years, all of which has been done in my spare time and for which I've not received any money. Admittedly this started as just a hobby and has grown over the years into quite a serious pastime. However, the driving force behind it came from the hundreds of people who have e-mailed me over the years to either share information or to simply to say thank you. I've met some wonderful friends via this site, I now work at Whirl-Y-Gig as a result of this site, I became a DJ (U-4-IC), I am now the music manager and resident DJ at Planet Angel.... the list of things i've gained from this site is very long and it's difficult to imagine how different my life would be today if I had not written it. And it is for that simple reason why I still continue to update the site as regularly as I possibly can.

What kind of music do you DJ? I started DJing back in 1998 as a natural progression to collecting dance music. Over the years my taste in music has broadened, mainly as a result of naturally maturing and accepting other music styles that I encountered on my travels. Uplifting and melodic trance has always been my strength, although I now play a lot of funky bigbeat, global beats, ambient and down-tempo music. It wasn't until the latter half of 1999 that I managed to escape the confines of my bedroom and got to play out in clubs. I got very lucky and in a very short space of time was managing the music for Planet Angel, a result of being in the right place at the right time, plus also owning a unique and broad music collection. I now play in all three rooms at Planet Angel - not many DJs can do that.

What does your DJ name mean? U-4-IC was the name of one of my first demo mix tapes that I compiled many moons ago. It's just a phonetic pronunciation of the word 'Euphoric', which reflected the style of music on the mix tape. I hasten to add that this was before the time of the commercially available Euphoria trance compilations. It kind of stuck as a DJ name and i've not been bothered to change it. Interestingly enough, i've since learn't that it's also the name of a youth group at Valley Springs Presbyterian Church in the US.

Where do you DJ? My residency is at Planet Angel, an underground word-of-mouth all-night event based in London which we run once a month. We've also started Planet Angel Chilled which runs on Sunday afternoons/evenings, again once a month. These are my only regular slots but I occasionally play at other events and parties if asked. Recent gigs include the Volcanoe Festival on Hackney Marsh, Royal Holloway University and the Festival of Light (Barnet Council Firework Display). In the past there has been a bit of confusion about whether or not I DJ at Whirl-Y-Gig. For the record, DJ Monkey Pilot is the only DJ who plays at Whirl-Y-Gig and I have never played there. This confusion has probably arisen simply because DJ Monkey Pilot's real name is also Richard and we do play similar music. I do work at Whirl-Y-Gig as a member of the rigging crew, so you can expect to see me there at every gig.

Do you prefer vinyl or CDs? When I first started DJing I bought a set of dual CD decks, simply because I had loads of music on CD. I rapidly progressed to vinyl, a result of finding mixing to be far easier with vinyl and that the type of music I was into at the time was mostly being released on vinyl. Since then I've always used both CDs and vinyl in conjunction with each another. However, at Planet Angel i'll normally only DJ with CDs since I have to play in three rooms covering chill out, funky bigbeat through to trance and progressive house, and that would require three or four boxes of records. With CDs I can carry the best of my entire collection in one record bag. So laziness prevails! I know many people look down on DJing with CDs, but i'm not in it for the image and I certainly don't share the attitude that's associated with the scene. As long as the music is good it doesn't matter whether the source of it is vinyl or CD.

Can I buy the music listed on this site? Unfortunately, no. This is my music collection which I use for DJing and its not for sale. This site is purely an information / resource site. I try to list all details of releases such are record label, catalogue number and year of release, which should make it easier for you to find what you are looking for elsewhere.

So where can I find the music listed on this site? I've listed many of the on-line stores that I use regularly on my links page. These should get you started.

There's another site on the web that reads very similarly to yours? Yes, some lovely people in Russia took it upon themselves to copy my entire site without permission. They've headed it with some Russian text which I don't understand, but as far as I can make out it doesn't credit me at all, or link back to my site. This rather bad copy of my site is a freeze frame of my site from many years ago. Obviously my site is a lot bigger now and more relevant than the copy.

So can I copy the information on this site for my own use? Yes, if you ask my permission first and are willing to quote my name as the author and reference the web site address. If it is for use on another web site then a link back to my site would be appreciated.

Do you trade MP3s and CDRs? In short, no. I've already mentioned that i've spent hundreds of hours authoring this site, promoting lesser known artists along side established artists. To start illegally trading MP3s and CDRs would undo all that hard work. Whilst I do not agree with the high prices charged in most music stores here in the UK, which is a result of many factors (mainly the greedy corporate labels and the governing bodies), that does not make piracy justified.

What other web sites have you written? I have authored two other sites. The first was for AZukx, a band I met at Whirl-Y-Gig many moons ago and the second was for James Asher, who is an established world-beat artist.