Author Archives: John Lithium

Aquino – Be Late. (Self-Released)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

In 2020, I, along with many folks around the world, stopped playing live shows. I also stopped writing songs with lyrics. It was something about my voice. I didn’t want to hear it.* During this moment, time was on all of our minds. We had a lot of it. Pre-pandemic, we seemed to be in a rush. And for some, post-pandemic, that pace came back with a vengeance.

I never wanted to be late. I feared late. But then someone issued me the challenge – be late. Challenge accepted.

This EP is the culmination of that meditation. I wrote these songs between 2020 and 2025. The song titles may be ridiculous, but so is always being on time.

Be late. (Unless it’s an emergency, of course. Or dinner’s ready.)

*I am writing songs with lyrics again. Yay.


All songs composed, performed, mixed, and mastered by Michael Aquino

Traiken – Jamuary 2025 (Self-Released)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description: Once again, I took on the #Jamuary challenge to produce something music-related each day in the month of January, and once again I decided to make that “something” to mean writing and recording a new track every 24 hours. It’s been a challenging month in a dark time, but I did it. Having something positive to focus on, having art to make, is what got me through it. It’s what has gotten me through life thus far, especially when most other things fail me. So I’m very proud to have succeeded.

Voidscan – Tired Monster (SHIFT+CTRL Music)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

I didn’t set out to make an album. I set out to survive some long, stressful nights.

I tend to take on many projects at one time, often too many and this album came from a place I don’t talk about much anxiety and isolation. I made Tired Monster during a period of serious burnout, physically, creatively, and emotionally. Not the loud kind, but the slow, creeping kind that wears you down until you barely recognize yourself. In between albums, and starting a record label, the music started as a way to process that. It’s the sound of pushing forward when you’re running on fumes, of feeling heavy but still restless. The “monster” in the title isn’t a villain, it’s the tired version of yourself that refuses to give up, even when you kind of want to.

This album is my most personal work yet. It blends my love for cinematic sound design with the darker beat driven textures I’ve always gravitated toward. You’ll hear ambient decay, distorted rhythms, and moments of tension and release that mirror how I was feeling while making it.

There’s no single genre here it’s my hybrid of cinematic electronic storytelling, crafted in isolation and shaped by late nights; the need to process life without words. I hope these tracks feel like a mirror, or maybe a companion.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed but couldn’t slow down… this one’s for you.

Thanks for listening to what I couldn’t put into words. 


Music by Voidscan

Cover Art by Maria Forsberg (www.instagram.com/forsberg_drawing/)

Layout by Voidscan (voidscanmusic.com)

Mastered at Structure|Edit Studio in Wildlight, FL (structureedit.com)

Released by SHIFT+CTRL Music (shiftctrlmusic.com)

No AI was used in the production of the art or music.

The Hedonistic Imperative – Planetoid 3 (Self-Released)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description: Planetoid 3

Decades of attempts later.
Escaping the pull of gravity.
Released into the void.
Yet another culmination.
I disappeared, intermittently.
I appear, briefly.
“Please enjoy this soundtrack to a parallel world. Creating, recreating, and fine-tuning this experience has brought me great satisfaction and much needed diversion. May listening to it provide you with something valuable as well.”

Third time’s the charm?

gribbles – githerments #02 (Self-Released)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

Another collection of orphaned tunes lurking in the nether regions of my laptop.

These are tracks that were lined up for a bit more polish and probable release – but since then my attention has moved elsewhere as I got all excited about new shiny projects and these tracks got left at the ‘nearly there’ stage. So they’re a little rough around the edges in places, but I’m claiming that as part of their charm.

That said, when I played a couple of these to people they got broadly appreciative nods – so I thought another githerments release may be in order.

It’s a bit of a mixed bag.

ether is so old, all I have is the audio file. Which is a shame ‘cos there was a lovely long reverb tail on the end and it’s cut off in the version I found sat in a random folder.

There’s upbeat electro in Storm, Noir-esque noodling with some spoken word in Thomas, and even some guitar on Tom Five.

Streets and Blue Hills are pseudo-themes for some never made US cop dramas.

Of course there’s a tune or two with stuff from my much raided US evangelists sample folder. Will I ever grow out of that?

There’s some sort of poppy songs, some sub Daft-Punk vocoder work courtesy of a Arturia pssst I found that I meant to replace the sample in. And some things I’m not sure how to describe.

All in all – something for everyone or maybe everything for someone.

Line up, baby!

.g
July ’25

Cavern Cult – Approach (Self-Released)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description: Guitars, bass, synths, beat programming, Kalimba, recording mixing and arrangement: Frank Ehrhardt
Mastering: Alexander Kolb
Synths and additional beat programming on Broken Shadows: Erdem Cakir (magikkarpetkaravan.bandcamp.com)
Additional effect manipulation on Algorhythmic Dreams: Alissa Jäger
Additional guitars and additional beat programming on Of Hope and To Go On and additional mixing: Stefan Harth (gigalurgh.bandcamp.com)
Drawing: Frank Ehrhardt
Design: Marius Schmitt
Videos: Korneli Gorbatchev (kogofilm.de)

Stan Stewart (muz4now) – Ritüel Kaçış (Ritual Escape) [Self-Released]

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

I was supposed to be working on another project (an album of folk songs), but this one exploded from my creative center.

Here’s the musical framework for all the tracks on this suite:
muz4now.com/2025/creating-through-limitations-scales-of-creation/
And here’s the backstory:
muz4now.com/2025/escape-may-be-an-option-ritual-escape/

I used no synchronization, quantization, metronome or click-track in the creation of this music. Any “bad timing” is purely my fault. 🤓🎶


A few details:
All instruments (“real” and virtual) played by Stan Stewart.

1. Fluff Your Stuff – all virtual instruments by Fluffy Audio and nearly all from Echoes of the Earth. fluffyaudio.com/shop/echoes-of-the-earth/ — All real and virtual instruments played by me. Be sure to check out the video: v.basspistol.org/w/p/kAKmgmxpe2FoE5BHkU763z
2. This Is Our Only Earth – cool Viking chants produced by an instrument by Cinesamples store.cinesamples.com/products/voices-of-war-men-of-the-north
3. Tribes Survive – most sounds are custom sounds created in Tribal Player. tribeinstruments.com
4. Simply Ample – all virtual instruments from Ample Sound. amplesound.net
5. Eye C Things – the kitchen sink.

Heaven Topology – Describer (Ingrown Records)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

Review from On The Fringes of Sound!
http://www.onthefringesofsound.com/2025/08/heaven-topology-describer.html

CDs available here and from the artist in a super limited quantity!

Please follow and support the artist here:
heaventopology.bandcamp.com
heaventopology.net

Previous release on Ingrown here:
ingrown.bandcamp.com/album/worldpath-yggdrasil

ING062

If you dig this we think you’ll dig:
ingrown.bandcamp.com/album/lately-sprung-up-in-appalachia
ingrown.bandcamp.com/album/i-2
ingrown.bandcamp.com/album/aw-cute
ingrown.bandcamp.com/album/bup-land-anomaly-audio