You could use Flex Box instead of md-grid-list to have the same effect.
<div class="md-padding" layout="row" flex>
<div layout="row" flex>
<div class="parent" layout="column" ng-repeat="user in users" flex>
... Your content here
</div>
</div>
</div>
Take a look at this Example with fixed number of cards in a row:
http://codepen.io/anon/pen/bdQJxy
And a responsive example, using Wrap layout
http://codepen.io/anon/pen/MwzRde
Hope this is what you wanted.