draincore en · NOUN
Etymology
drain (from Drain Gang) + -core.
Meanings
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(qualifier:aesthetic, slang, uncountable) An aesthetic blending hyper-saturated Y2K digital iconography, glitch art, and anime imagery with edgy, dark aesthetics like cyber-goth and emo-trap.
10 years on from the conception of Swedish-based artistic collectives Drain Gang and Sad Boys, the r/sadboys Reddit thread is still in the top one per cent of the forum, with fans sharing advice on how to edit draincore photos, how to create digicore music, how to dress like a drainer.
2015 December 12, Yasmin Badesha, “Draincore is in my DNA”, in Public Pressure:Drain Gang helped birth a new strain of meme humor and a TikTok aesthetic called Draincore, which fuses black metal fonts, sparkles, Y2K media, clip art, and obscure lights, plus noisy and trashy visuals.
2023 May 4, Cassidy George, “Drain Gang”, in 032 Magazine: