Artcore

Artcore is a style of Japanese electronic dance music, developed within the rhythm-game and dōjin music scenes, that fuses drum and bass and hardcore tempos with the harmony and instrumentation of classical music. Tracks typically run at 170 BPM or faster, layering virtuoso piano arpeggios, strings and choral pads over intricate breakbeats, and pursue a deliberately beautiful, fantastical atmosphere at odds with rave music's aggression. The term was established when *Onoken*'s "felys" and *Ryu☆*'s "Narcissus At Oasis" reached #beatmania IIDX# in the mid-2000s, and labels such as #Diverse System# built a catalogue around composers including *xi*, *Sakuzyo* and *Feryquitous*.