What an amazing first week for SGL! Whilst we may not have had many entries this week, we did have some truly amazing ones. We had a couple of hiccups in the lead up to the launch of SGL, making it hard to get the word out well before we were taking submissions.
However we got there in the end and it really was an incredible week all things considered, especially given one of our lovely judges @isaria was unable to post her top 5 judges selection. I am very happy to say she did make her selections on time and passed on those results, so all judges views were taken into consideration before the winners were selected.
Because of this @isaria will be posting her reviews tomorrow, they will then be added to this post. But I assure you all results were taken into consideration and you have another judges review post to look forward to!
So without further delay here are the winners of week 1 of SGL:
"So , @luisferchav is back with this amazing Incubus cover , this was flawless ! what can I say , the vocals are just crazy on pitch and the interpretation is very true to the original .
What can I say , this tops my list on this first week!"
"I suppose this comes as no surprise – the exceptional talents of @luisferchav are well-known 'round these parts. Naturally, his entry into SGL Week 1 did not disappointment.
This was just such a lovely, seemingly effortless performance. From brilliantly executed vocals to well-played accompaniment, it's obvious he's played this song many times before; he clearly feels it, and so closely approximates the original...had I not seen him playing, I might've mistaken him for Incubus!
Well done, Luis! I look forward to hearing more from you in weeks to come. :)"
"I really liked your presentation, I found it complete, made with love, sharing a song by the Incubus group, your voice is excellent, having a lot of love in the phonetics of the piece, the guitar sounds great, quality creative work, communication, art . Thank you!."
"Well I have to say I have never been happier to get a message on discord, than I was when you messaged me the other day! I knew it was such fate, we had just launched SGL and bam there was a message from you after sooooo long.
Well as I'm sure your aware from my overly enthusiastic response, that I was thrilled to hear from you and even more excited to hear you wanted to get back into things. I knew I had to invite you to join us and better yet you said you would try to get an entry in for our first week, well my friend manage you did.
I will quote you know cause I think it's adorable, "I don't think I'll have time for an original, but I'll get something out" pffftt.... SOMETHING. Well your something was bloody brilliant in every conceivable way, I was immediately hooked and just blown away by the quality of your performance.
Your playing was perfection, not a missed or mistimed note, perfect volume balance between instrument and vocals. You added a fantastic depth to the tone and you make the sound feel so full with just your voice and guitar alone it's incredible.
You mixed things up, adding your own influences and flavor. I really loved that whistling section, I didn't see it coming but you executed it amazingly and it added this new and amazing element to the song I just adored.
I really love the note change up on the line "Whatever tomorrow brings I’ll be there", for such a small change it added so much to the feel of the song. Creating more complexity to the original, I love the extra vocal gymnastics you've added it really makes it even more fun to sing along with.
Then there's your performance and you really did perform it for us, conveying the emotion of the song not only through the music but your facial expressions and movements perfectly. When it comes down to it, I felt I had no option but to move you into first position this week.
Just an all round fantastic performance and rendition of a great song, I cannot wait to hear what you have for us next week!"
"Here is @lk666 once again with his distinctive style ! glad to see his entry and I must say he has the official first Sonic Groove Live entry ever ! A good start indeed!
This song fits you very naturally man , it’s not easy to pull out a Chris Cornell cover at all! but it worked with you ! Nice job on going thru the whole thing vocally ! not an easy feat."
"What an excellent cover! I hadn't heard this song in such a lonnng time. It really sent me back – felt like I was in my 20's again!
Needless to say...I'm impressed; this is no easy song to manage. Talk about a wide vocal range! Hitting those super high notes takes major skill and breath-support. Holding those tones while also quite capably playing guitar only makes it more note-worthy (pun-intended!)
Bravo, @lk666! Thank you for sharing your powerfully rich voice with us. More, please!"
"Well @lk666 you just smashed the hell outta that song my friend, also a massive congratulations on being the very first official entry to SGL ever! I am happy to say I was not disappointed to hear your familiar voice, but you just took it to whole other level and I just couldn't get enough.
Your playing is always precision and on point, your mixing is great with your vocals always clear, your playing is effortless and I love watching you play and sing together something I just cannot do.
Now for me what really stood out was your power house vocals, you really belted the shit outta that song and just completely dominated in every way. I really love hearing the vocal gymnastics you just slaughtered mercilessly, just a stunning vocal display raw and full of emotion.
I really love hearing you in this range, it is your power center and you just destroyed that performance. Showing a great level of skill throughout and making it all look easy in the process, I have listened to this countless times now and simply cannot get over it.
Congratulations on a brilliant first entry and also on the first ever official entry to SGL, you started us off on a brilliant note!"
"Wow , an organ performance ! this was flawless ! Also , I enjoyed having the score to follow and she the interaction of all the individual voices . Hope to hear more of this ."
"I'm glad to see @partitura sharing his creative processes through this contest, a few days ago he took second place in my Personal Entrepreneurship contest, telling us that he had more than 150+ compositions made for a music contest specially made for organ performers. Thank you for your participation in this space of the Blockchain."
"Firstly I got a kick out of reading your post and I have to say I agree with you... on some levels, but it's difficult to have simple rules that cover all situations like the one you mentioned. However in the spirit of debate :P one could also argue that whilst there is no original to have been influenced by, there have probably been other renditions by other artists that could influence your interpretation.
Now all jokes aside I do hear you and I do take classical music as a unique area of music for several reasons, one would be of course that yes in a lot of circumstances the way the composer intended the piece to be played cannot be known only interpreted. But I also take into account that classical music in a lot of sense requires greater skill and technique to perform, let alone perform well.
Now for your entry this week, well I absolutely loved it. Nothing like some classical music to write to and your performance was just so lovely, I really enjoyed every moment of it. In fact I've been listening to it on repeat while writing this and I had forgotten just how relaxing it can be.
Your performance is exquisite, your talent is abundantly clear, you never miss a note, you created a cohesive sound that ebbed and flowed with grace and beauty. I especially loved your inclusion of the score in the video, a fantastic tool for people to learn as they watch and to help the listener follow along.
I am always amazed watching organ players, my brain is just not wired to multitask with both hands in unison. But your performance was absolutely breathtaking and I simply had to be included in my top 5 this week!
I really hope to hear and see more from you in the weeks to come, there is just not enough classical music being shared so I'm glad to see you're doing your part."
Well guys there you have it, our first official week of winners!
Keep your eye's peeled for @isaria's coming top 5 post, we will add her review here once they are available. Thank you for your patience as we work out the kinks of week 1, get ready for the fun and excitement of week 2.
Submissions open Thursday 1 am CST / Thursday 6 am UTC and will close at Saturday 1 am CST / Saturday 6 am UTC, remember you can record in advance and schedule your post's to be sure you submit within the open window.
We are all so happy you could join us this week and really hope to see you all again next week fro more amazing music, until next time keep grooven!
@luisferchav - Drive
@pechichemena
@zipporah
@joseacabrerav
@krystle
@lk666 - Like a Stone
@partitura - Was Gott Tuth