This article is part of Resident Advisor's technology month, dedicated to coverage at the crossroads of electronic music and future-forward innovation throughout the month of June.

Since its inception, electronic music has always pushed the frontiers of sound into the unknown. Early pioneers of the genre, like Egyptian ethnomusicologist Halim El-Dabh and French composer Pierre Schafer, responsible for developing musique concrète, understood the revolutionary impact of technology on augmenting the limitations of traditional instruments and fundamentally liberating their means of expression.

This genre's long legacy of innovation can be traced back to the early 20th century, when composers began experimenting with using electricity to create new noises, leading to the development of various electronic instruments, such as the theremin. In the 1960s and 1980s, electronic music began to mutate and splinter into unprecedented sounds, with artists such as Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder pioneering synth-pop and disco, respectively, and then the Belleville Three contributing to the Afrofuturist canon in the form of Detroit techno. Notable developments in hardware occurred in parallel, such as the very first DJ mixer—a humble red box with two channels, named "Rosie"—adapted by Alex Rosner in 1965 to assist in seamless transitions between vinyl records, specifically made for The Haven club in New York.

Today, electronic music and technology have become more democratic than ever before. The arrival of digital audio has meant music production is increasingly accessible to anyone who wants to create and distribute their work to the masses. The genesis of gqom and amapiano, for instance, sprung from copies of Fruity Loops studio, eventually furrowing downstream through lively WhatsApp channels to reach listeners. But now, artists are also experimenting with programming language to create their own custom instruments, composing for omnidirectional 4D sound environments or virtual clubs and befriending artificial intelligence to hurtle far beyond the human limitations of music-making (but not without a small frisson of anxiety). According to the IMS 2022 report, 64 per cent of all identified music NFT mints worth $55.4 million came from electronic music artists.

In Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst's Interdependence podcast, guest Cherie Hu—founder of technology and music media outlet Water & Music,—expounds that what was previously a field where "tech" solely meant hardware and software—drum machines, modular synths and DAWs—has become engulfed in discourse around algorithms, Web3 and the Metaverse, shaking the very bedrock of how we conceptualise electronic music culture. Why is it that technology is now so advanced, yet many artists are still waiting for their financial and productivity gains? With the dawn of infinite possibility, there also exists excessive speculation, implications on data privacy and endless ethical quandaries—as protective legislation and copyright laws struggle to keep up.

Beginning this month, Resident Advisor will remain poised at this intersection. June's forward-facing theme jump starts with a BBC Radio 1 mix series partnership (the first of its kind to explore a specific topic). This exploration of technology will then sweep cross-platform, continuing to be expertly threaded throughout RA's multimedia coverage in perpetuity under the guidance of our soon-to-be-appointed Futures Editor.

Anticipate King Britt's Afrofuturist, full-vinyl mix of proto-disco and broken beats, followed by object blue's experimental sounds inspired by the uncanny valley, with select songs filtered through an AI, deep fake vocal modelling tool. There's also DVS1's signature propulsive techno that mirrors his life's dedication to engineering immersive sound experiences, and Zora Jones concludes the month on an eclectic note, zipping through a multi-genre mix rife with dancehall, UK funky and jersey club—music that's, in her words, "in and of itself innovative." Web3 artist and AI co-collaborator Portrait XO jumps on the Exchange "In Conversation" interview series to round out our audio content.

There will be informative video essays, including one on the Metaverse, from RA's Film section. Our features output will investigate the recent uptick in live audiovisual performances and why TikTok is becoming the next biggest platform for electronic music. On the industry side, senior staff writer Nyshka Chandran delves into the benefits of Web3 on IRL venues and unpacks her findings on an Exchange "Reflections" podcast. We'll scrutinise the consequences of data collection with the advent of Cloud DJing, and consider the impact of online gaming on club culture and the ways in which we experience dance music post-pandemic. Then, Caroline Whiteley's "Earth Notes" column highlights the environmental innovations endeavoring to sustain our scene.

All the warped kaleidoscopic images accompanying each long-form article were created with the assistance of Pollinations.ai, an image synthesis platform built, in the developers' own words, "to make AI-generated media simple to access and available for everyone" due to an urgent need for diverse perspectives in the AI ecosystem.

The technological evolution barrels forward. These rapid developments can often feel like bracing oneself before a drop into a vast, ever-swelling horizon of information, destabilising but not without the rush of charting a nebulous, yet hopefully equitable unknown. To confess, I wrote parts of this letter with assistance from openAI's playground function, leaning into the belief that machines are meant to make our lives easier—albeit more morally complex.