John O’Callaghan has played a major role influencing the shape and the revival of the sound of trance

Since 2006, Subculture has risen among the ranks of trance labels with its consistency quality of uplifting and techy trance sound. Los Angeles has been blessed with five Subculture shows dating back to 2011 and just recently, it held its latest one in its largest venue – The Hollywood Palladium. 

Featuring a stellar lineup with crowd favorites like Craig Connelly, Cold Blue, Giuseppe Ottaviani, John O’Callaghan, Bryan Kearney and Key 4050; the West Coast was definitely ready for this lineup and was ecstatic when it first dropped. Fans from across the US and Canada traveled to Los Angeles for a much anticipated Subculture trance event. 

Cold Blue took us on a journey by creating an environment which felt like we were in his studio with all these exclusive IDs. Taking everyone into outer space and bringing them right before his set ended by playing crowd favorites like his remix of Joint Operations Centre ‘Behind The Silence’, and ‘Rush’ along with his new single ‘Simplicity’.

The maestro of keys, Giuseppe Ottaviani brought his 2.0 setup in keeping trance to its roots over the decades. Playing several Subculture shows throughout the years, Giuseppe is always a huge crowd favorite and is always taking the crowd on an uplifting tech-trance journey with his new tracks ‘Space Unicorn’ and ‘Tranceland’ while teasing us with a few tracks off his new album Evolver.

The man of Subculture John O’Callaghan was taking prime time and I was more than ecstatic to see him and finally hear the tunes that helped me through my darkest times which became the most therapeutic hour for me. If there’s one thing about a JOC set is that it’s the one hour you feel like you’re stepping into his mind. JOC played the most perfect set in my eyes giving us the best uplifting and tech-trance and dropping a few of my favorite off his alias Joint Operation Centre ‘Hunter’ and his remix of ‘Cowgirl’ and his classic ‘Big Sky’, while still giving us JOC classics with ‘Lies Cost Nothing’ (Will Atkinson remix), and some Bryan Kearney collaboration of tracks like “Exactly” and ‘Find Yourself” as some of my personal favorites.

Bryan Kearney and JOC came together to bring us Key 4050, high tech-trance with uplifting melodies where both of these legends officially launched their duo a few years back at Dreamstate SoCal. Since then, they produced so many new tracks along with remixing some classics such as Ruben de Ronde & PROFF ft. Deirdre McLaughlin ‘Fade Away With Me’ and taking classic melodies we grew up on like ‘Pikachu’ and making into everyone’s favorite. No matter how many times I hear that track, it always gives me this nostalgia. Uplifting the crowd from ‘Pikachu’ to ‘Utterly Butterly’, they also dropped a few new tracks with heavy baseline and kicks perfect for bass heads for people like me that just can’t get enough of it.

Closing the night was Bryan Kearney who was the best choice as he kept the crowd vibing by playing his Subculture hit ‘All Over Again’ and Giuseppe’s ‘Crossing Light’ while bringing his Kearnage with tracks like Sam Jones ‘Buckle Up’ and his new track ‘Omega Six’. When Bryan dropped everyone’s favorite mash-up he did a few years back of ‘Numb The Pain vs. Cry’, it took my heart and left it on the floor which right there and then I knew my night was complete.

The dictionary defines Subculture as; a cultural group within a large culture, often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger culture. 

That’s the beauty behind trance music we all come from different upbringings and cultures and we incorporate that into the scene and become one big family within a family.

-Karttie Wahoff