Electronic music leans on a handful of workhorse chord progressions, each with a genre home

The source names a small set of go-to progressions with explicit genre placements: i-VI-III-VII (minor, epic/uplifting) is a trance/melodic-techno staple; i-VII-VI-VII (minor, hypnotic, no true resolution) suits dark techno/dnb; ii-V-I (jazz cadence) is soulful house and lo-fi hip-hop; I-V-vi-IV (major, pop) is vocal/uplifting house. A fifth option is one-chord/static harmony (drone) where ‘stasis is the aesthetic’ (much techno, dub, ambient). Attaching a genre home to each turns them into actionable selection criteria rather than abstract sequences; the i-VII-VI-VII loop feels hypnotic precisely because it never lands on a functional-cadence resolution.

Examples

Minor epic: chord('<Am F C G>'). Dark/no-resolution: chord('<Am G F G>'). House jazz cadence: chord('<Bm7b5 E7 Am7>').

Assessment

Match each progression to its genre home: i-VI-III-VII, ii-V-I, i-VII-VI-VII, one-chord drone. What makes i-VII-VI-VII feel hypnotic rather than resolved?