Artist:
gridlock
Label:
Hymen Records
Release Date: Early
2004 CD, mid 2004
vinyl
Available from: www.creative.net/~gridlock (samples available)
Genre keywords: IDM,
Industrial,
Ambient,
Electronic,
Experimental (but not in the
John Cage way)
formless (sic) is the fourth full-blown album from industrial/ambient/IDM duo Mike Wells and Mike Cadoo, also known as
Gridlock (I'm not counting
remixes of
Trace or extended
singles like
Engram). It gets praise from me (and this
writeup) because it is the first time, in my considerable musical experience (yes, this is
subjective), that a musical group has managed to surprise me with the degree of innovation present
twice (once with
Further (1999), again with
formless (2004). May experimentation never cease.
Gridlock's
modus operandi was always the juxtaposition of soft,
Vangelis-like synths that slowly soar to the heavens and dip into demondom with harsh, ultra-rhythmic explosions of industrial noise, drum-machine intense beats like a game of
Quake on depressants ... then speed ... then some more depressants. Alter
frequency. Change order. Redefine tempo. Repeat. The end result is an ambiently melancholy melange of
order and
chaos, interspersed with moments of
stark naked panic.
You may now commence calling my description a bunch of
pretentious twaddle. Thank you. Let's continue.
formless does nothing to change this beguiling formula, except ... that it does. Whereas in earlier albums waves of industrial distorto-noise (does anyone know a better name? It's that sound
speakers make just before they burst, combined with harsh static...) were used as percussion, background and sometimes main instrument, in
formless they are relegated to sharp
staccato percussion while more smooth, non-grating sounds carry the rest of the piece.
Vocals are removed entirely, and an increased complexity of
glitching is mainly responsible for delivering the entire package straight into the
cortex. Where
Further was occasionally mellowly
repetative (like on
Ash),
formless is anything but, with percussive patterns, melody and instrumentation morphing constantly. If it's possible to say that gridlock are genre-bending, then
formless completes the transition from Industrial Ambient to nearly
full-on IDM.
What followed was a track-listing describing the music, but I gave that up as a
bad job better not done. Instead I present the tracks, unadorned. The album is a coherent, uninterrupted whole.
pallid
distance
interlude 1
return
song23
chrometaphor
scratch
displacement
the 8th winter
re/module
atomontage
done processing
Personal Sidenote: If you find music boring, predictable and not holding your attention, or if your cube neighbour's
country/
pop actually gives you a strong
negative physical reaction, try this album. The myriad of changing beats and musical structures will soothe the
ADD in you (and me).
Sources:
many listens to all of gridlock's works
self-appointed musical snobbery