Raised in Florida’s Tampa Bay area, Ryan Powell, who records as Gridlok, trained as a classical violinist before experimenting with electronic music production in his early teens. His first recorded release was the 1999 single Horizon / The Search, issued on Audio Blueprint. In 2003, he founded Project 51 Recordings, an independent, artist-run label. Powell has described its approach as prioritising quality over quantity, and has also used the name Project Fifty-One for the imprint.
In 2005, Gridlok and Hive worked with Keaton and Echo on the album Welcome to Violence, released on Violence Recordings. His later albums include Break the System, issued on Project 51 Recordings in 2007, and Void, released in 2009. His work has also appeared on RAM Records, Playaz, Commercial Suicide, Moving Shadow, Blackout Music NL, Bad Taste and Renegade Hardware. Among his collaborations are “Poisonous” with Prolix and “Standing Room Only” with Hive, D-Bridge, Break and Silent Witness. He has also remixed music by Josh Wink and Sasha, and collaborated with Dom & Roland on “Moodswings,” “Hooked” and “London’s Burning.”
Gridlok and Prolix co-created the album Project Trendkill. For his album Z3R0 H0U2, he began much of the work in San Francisco, developed it further at Nymfo’s studio and completed it in Amsterdam. The 2017 album was among the releases associated with his label work. Gridlok’s production has also appeared on Technorganic Recordings and Virus Recordings, alongside labels from his earlier release history.
In 2019, Gridlok released the single Opera / Blush on Bad Taste Recordings. The 2020 single Germ (Misanthrop Remix) paired him with Misanthrop on Blackout Music NL, followed in 2021 by the Eatbrain single Lava Run (Gridlok Remix) with Gydra. In 2022, Gridlok and Prolix released the single Immortal on C4C Recordings. His 2023 single On The Waterfront /Magnetic came out on Science Fiction Records.
