Gridlock – Formless

God this needs a 20th repress on vinyl for sure.

Gridlock's send-off was my favorite by far, mixing smart and subtle extended melodic tones with keyboard sweeps and gritty distorted beats. Several top notch tracks here like Return, Song23, Chrometaphor, and the dramatic finale "Done Processing".

A force of nature, timeless, music to die for. So emotional it's painful. Art at the apex and it lives on.

During my life I listened to a lot of music in the IDM genre and I want to say that the "Formless" is one of the best albums of this genre of all time. Maybe the best.

This album is soooo emotional that I can't put it into words. Most of the tracks have an enormous intensity. It's nearly impossible to describe. Just listen!
But you have to buy the CD 'cause there're some exclusive tracks you may not miss. For example, Song 23 is one of the best tracks on this album, I think. Together with Chrometaphor this awesome track will split your soul and some tears will follow 'cause you'll know, you'll never be without this amazing IDM album from Gridlock! Don't trust me? So put your headphones on, drink a glass of wine and wait until the basslines get you.
Thank you so much to put great and sad feelings into a CD. One of the few, I would call "melancholic". So don't be afraid of the high prices.
Love it sooo much!

This album has been compared to Autechre's early work (think Incunabula, Amber and Tri Repetae) but it never really reminded of AE's sound. Formless is just that, it has no definite shape or influence. I find the sound hard to explain but the IDM trate is certainly present. Walls and waves of electronica will consume the listener. Its a real shame that Gridlock stopped making music after this album but at least they went out with one hell of a bang. Get it.

Here's another perfect example, of how dating music can underestimate its beauty and importance - a 2003 release on Hymen that still holds up really well today. San Francisco's Mike Cadoo and Mike Wells decided to end the ten-year Gridlock project in 2005, yet Cadoo continued his development in music and released an acclaimed ambient and shoegazer album on highly regarded n5MD label (which, incidentally, he manages), titled In Distance, under his Bitcrush alias. In Formless, we can already detect Cadoo's early transformation into atmospheric soundscapes offset by solid, post-industrial influenced IDM beats, that he has been perfecting with Wells, along with his drum'n'bass influences from releases as Dryft. Gridlock even managed to secure a spot on a coveted Travel Sickness box set compilation (which I finally tracked down in Spain and snatched at a hefty price). To me, this is the music that blends all of my favorite elements, and is at the root of definition of IDM, even as the term is on its way out. Highly recommended for collectors who wish to own a piece of history. RIYL: Beefcake, Architect, Proem, Displacer. Favorite tracks: Pallid, Chrometaphor, and Displacement

Not only is it a new level in the IDM genre, but also a rare example of divine, utterly perfect and infinitely beautiful record that totally blows your mind, your heart and your soul at one time. It's not formless at all - the form is well planned and wonderfully executed - but it's definitely timeless. Apparently it was produced by God himself, or at least someone close to Him... Buy, steal, borrow, do anything but get it. Missing this one is unforgivable.

While it is true that Formless isn't as passionate as Gridlock's early albums, it has a lot of other virtues to showcase.

First, their sound on this album, despite being variative and "formless", is now very mature and stable in quality. It is clear to me that it is scrupulously constructed and refined to the point of being unimprovable.

The cascades are rich and complex, and have multiple layers to them. The tracks don't sound overly similar to each other, but at the same time, they blend seamlessly and convey similar atmosphere in one beautiful flow. The interludes (tracks #3, #7 and #13) serve this purpose as well. This is a sign of a truly cohesive *album*, rather than just an assembly of several good tracks with some fillers mixed in (earlier albums used to give me such a feeling).

Despite some abrasive and glitchy beats Gridlock is known for (which became more IDM-influenced starting with Trace), the melodies on this album make it very calm and soothing overall. Even the more upbeat tracks (Pallid, Displacement, Atomontage, etc.) don't make you bang your head violently to the rhythm or "dance like you're selling nails" (© Venetian Snares) -- quite the opposite, even they are made with thoughtful and careful listening in mind. Lastly, the beautiful ambient epilogue, Done Processing, (which reminds me of both Gridlock's earlier track Under and Aphex Twin's Stone in Focus) is so warm and soothing it could serve as an excellent lullaby.

In conclusion: with their last album, Gridlock has cut down on passion, but gained a lot in craftsmanship and sound richness. This is Gridlock's magnum opus, and one of my favorite experimental electronic music albums to date. Fully recommended to all you who liked the kind of stuff Autechre was doing before LP5 came out.

I enjoyed a good deal of the tracks, but most of the tracks blended so much together that I merely lost interest. About 6 of the 15 tracks I really got into. After that, it sounded like filler, I gotta say. I only own "Further" other than this album, and I dig "Further" a lot more. Their music was getting to be completely soft and "formless" and dull. I love the more abrasive, meaningful early works which were more naive, yet more passionate.