Matt Sephton + DJ Salty Chops at The Jam Factory

Matt Sephton is a producer and sound explorer based in Te Tara o Te Ika / Coromandel, Aotearoa New Zealand. Known for his bass-heavy music and raw dancefloor energy as Matt Rapid, he is now shifting focus to work under his own name - marking a deliberate move toward music that is more personal, more place-based, and more deeply rooted in the world around him. Vā, his debut full-length album (March 2026), is a sonic journal of place, time, and connection. Created during a 2025 residency at the Tiapapata Art Centre, Upolu, Samoa, it is woven from field recordings, hydrophone explorations, found sounds, and bass-heavy electronic production. Across eleven tracks, Sephton explores the Polynesian concept of vā - the relational space between people, sounds, and world: not empty, but alive with connection. Collaborators include Tau'ili'ili Alpha Maiava on Samoan nose flute, Ghanaian papermaker Awal Muhammed on spoken word, and Samoan…