> So challenging music with unfamiliar timbres and frequency combinations can be physically grating and overload the listener on that sensory level.
That describes a lot of techno and heavy metal and a lot of people seem to really dig it.
That describes a lot of techno and heavy metal and a lot of people seem to really dig it.
This depends very heavily on which subgenre of techno you're talking about. Melodic techno tends to use functional harmony, yes. But there is a lot of techno out there that has no recognizable harmony at all. It may have a root note, but bass and/or melodic lines, if present at all, can be completely chromatic.
Rhythm is almost always 4/4, of course, but it's hard to deviate too far from that with dance music. Within that, techno tends to do a lot of interesting polymeter stuff. Whether you consider that traditional or not is, I guess, open to interpretation.