Move 78 are a Berlin based band whose music is a blend of improvised jazz and drum-heavy hip-hop.

The core line-up consists of Doron Segal (keyboards), Nir Sabag (drums), Hal Strewe (bass), Meravi Goldman (French horn) and Aver (sampler/production), though the band frequently collaborates with the likes of Douniah (Melting Pot Music), Aquiles Navarro (Irreversible Entanglements) and Eric Owusu (Jembaa Groove), as well as a whole host of other stalwarts from the Berlin scene.

“Blurring the lines between live musical interaction and technology, their music is both spontaneous and calculated. The final recordings they produce are the result of an artistic process that has mirrors in visual art disciplines where the end only fully emerges after repeated expressionistic invention, erasure and addition. Imagine clay or paint being manipulated, torn away and reshaped until the artist says ‘enough’.” — Justin Turford, Truth & Lies, 2023) 

The band name is inspired by a famous Go match (an ancient Chinese board game) between Lee Sedol, the world champion of Go at the time, and a computer program named AlphaGo. Having been defeated in the first three games of the five-game match by his AI-powered opponent, Sedol stunned spectators and commentators by adapting and playing a move so strange that it completely baffled AlphaGo and its algorithms, leading the program to scramble for historical data to make sense of it. The move – which represented Sedol’s human response adapting to meet the challenges of an ever-evolving technological world – was move 78.

Since 2021 Move 78 have released two 7” double a-side singles, a 10” drum break record and three 12” studio albums: “The Algorithm Smiles Upon You”; “Automated Improvisation”; and “Grains”. All three received national radio play in Germany, UK, France, Japan and USA, widespread play on internet stations such as Worldwide FM, NTS and NPR, as well as editorial playlisting on Spotify and Apple Music, with all their releases combined having received over 15 million streams.Aver hosts the monthly Move 78 Show on Berlin community radio station Refuge Worldwide.