To catch up with two electronic music visionaries—one an ‘80s synth-pop innovator, the other a ‘90s trance pioneer—we’re using nothing but the most advanced technology: a crackly speaker phone in a dressing room at Georgia’s 1,000-seat Center Stage Atlanta, where “An Evening With BT and Thomas Dolby” is about to play to a full house.

Folks fortunate enough to chat with electronic-music maestro Brian Transeau, who performs as BT, should keep a dictionary nearby, because they’ll probably need it. For instance, he explains a technique called circuit-bending by noting that “it’s the first time, I think, that electronic musicians are able to work with something that’s completely stochastic. Normally we don’t have access to any kind of aleatoric modalities.”