How Instupendo and Ripsquad teamed up to deconstruct pop

thefader.com:

Instupendo doesn’t try to be this lowkey; it just comes naturally. We’re speaking the day after the release of Ripstupendo, the Philly-based producer’s deconstructed pop collaboration with the continent-spanning collective Ripsquad, and I noticed that he hasn’t announced the release on social media. “To be completely honest,” he says over the phone, “the entire reason is because I'm coding a website, and I wanted to put it in the caption for [the post].” Surrender is its own form of intention, and Instupendo is nothing if not intentional.

Ten years ago, when Instupendo was making his own bespoke version of chill beats to relax to, the Delaware producer Distance Decay was a presence in his life even before he joined Ripsquad in 2019. “[He’s] someone I've known from some of the earliest music I was making,” Instupendo says.

Their careers went in different directions: Instupendo began creating sweet natured mutant pop – think Arca, but Sanrio-ified – while an early track, 2017’s “Comfort Chain,” a glowing sea anemone of synths, has soundtracked hundreds of thousands of brainrot-free TikTok slideshows on its way to over 100 million streams.

After joining Ripsquad, Distance Decay racked up production credits for Future, Trippie Redd, Lil Keed, and more. Read Next: 10 songs you need in your life this week.