Rip Florence is a Santa Cruz–based art-punk songwriter, sound collagist, educator, and organizer whose work moves fluidly between freak-folk intimacy, journalistic noise, no-wave abrasion, and tape-saturated lo-fi vulnerability. His songs are emotionally direct and formally restless, often unraveling themes of labor, alienation, digital life, blissful creative abandon, and late-capitalist surrealism with equal parts tenderness and abrasion.

Rooted in a deep diy ethos, Rip’s practice extends beyond the stage into community-centered sound and social-practice work. His performances shift between fragile acoustic confessionals and blown-out noise eruptions, creating sets that feel both confrontational and disarmingly personal. Rip has performed in clubs, art spaces, and living rooms throughout the Bay Area, across the U.S., and in Europe.

He has opened for artists including King Tuff, Magik Markers, Peter Stampfel, and Shitlove; has performed alongside his late-hero, Daniel Johnston, among many others toiling in the underground ~ Rip is currently an Artist-in-Residence at Indexical in Santa Cruz, where he is curating an exhibition and vinyl release centering oration and interview recordings from unhoused individuals, paired with thematic noise and abrasive soundscapes, scheduled for exhibition and release in Spring 2026.

Rip also curates DIY label and imprint Plastic Abyssal R&R (formerly Shallow Dive Records), supporting outsider, art-punk, and experimental artists near and far.

GENRE TAGS: Art-Punk, Freak Folk, Noise, No Wave, Outsider, Singer-Songwriter