Move 78 are a Berlin-based band whose signature sound is a balance between free-flowing, improvised jazz and programmed, automated hip-hop.
The band consists of Doron Segal (keyboards), Nir Sabag (drums), Hal Strewe (bass), Meravi Goldman
(French horn) and Aver (sampler/production). Their music is crafted from hours of studio improvisations
that have been chopped-up, rearranged, and layered with additional strings, flute and horns.
Move 78’s live performance is not just a replaying of this material, but rather an expansion of the band’s
creative process, one where human reactions are provoked and augmented by technology. Starting with
small clusters of samples and familiar sequences, the musicians feed off each other until the emerging
musical patterns cascade together in harmony, creating new spontaneous compositions. Not only does
Aver sample these sounds in real-time on stage but he also takes the atmospheric live recordings away
and uses them as the basis for new studio ideas, forming a feedback loop of creation and learning.
Aver, Doron and Nir met in Berlin in 2017. They began hanging out as friends initially and would
endlessly talk about music until eventually they began collaborating, the first instances of which can be
found on the 2018 LP “Dressed For CCTV”, Aver’s second release with Village Live Records. The trio
began rehearsing for live shows to promote the LP, re-working Aver’s hip-hop instrumentals with a more
jazz-oriented style, soon adding bassist Hal Strewe to the line-up and Move 78 was formed. Across the
band’s three main releases to date they have collaborated with over a dozen musicians from a wide
range of backgrounds, the most prominent of these being with Meravi Goldman. During the pandemic
she featured on so many home recordings with Doron and Aver that her mastery of the French horn
became an integral part of the band’s sound and so secured her place in the band permanently.
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 a 7” double a-side single, a 10” drum break record and two 12”
studio albums: “The Algorithm Smiles Upon You” and “Automated Improvisation”. Both 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 6 million streams. The band’s third studio album “Grains” is due
for release Autumn 2023.
Aver also hosts the fortnightly Move 78 Show on Berlin community radio station Refuge Worldwide.