The New York-based Robert Glasper Experiment takes the idea of rhythm and space, mixes it with hip-hop, and turns jazz into something quite unlikely and decidedly fresh.

Glasper, a native of Texas whose piano stylings have stirred the pot and created a real buzz nationally, is about to release a new album, "Black Radio," that's billed as drawing "from jazz, hip-hop, R&B and rock, but refuses to be pinned down by any one tag."

Read more about these under-the-radar picks at Local Spins.

Photo by Mike Schreiber

It's all about the music.

Unlike the Grammy Awards' la-la land of red carpets and celebrity sidewalk stars, Grand Rapids' Jammies are the no-hype awards.

That's what makes it one my favorite nights of the year.

February's roots-driven, camaraderie-filled Jammie Awards show hosted by community radio station WYCE-FM at The Intersection has grown over the past 12 years into a can't-miss event.

And this year, it falls on Valentine's Day, making it a real love-in for local music. Dozens of regional acts will perform, applauded by hundreds of fans and pals from other bands. WYCE will dole out awards to grinning, appreciative musicians, some of whom may never get further recognition for their hard work and alluring albums.

More important, attendees will experience a microcosm of West Michigan's tantalizingly eclectic music scene. I'm convinced there's more envelope-pushing passion coursing through the veins of Jammie nominees than there is among the ego-driven, international artists vying for Grammys.

That's because mainstream pop music needs a jump-start.

Influential rock guitarist Carlos Santana told me that in an interview years ago and his words still ring true.

"A lot of music today is coma-inducing," he offered without apology. "Radio is really programmed. They're afraid of emotion and intensity."

Blame it on a long-standing romance with mediocrity: Industry movers and shakers hype copycats and re-treads, hail safe and screen-friendly stars catering to unsophisticated tweens, and revel in the lowest common denominator. They lock their audiences in a dumbed-down loop of musical blandness.

Maybe it's like that old rock 'n' roll joke about the bass player who locked his keys in the car: It took two hours to get the drummer out.

Or maybe I just happen to be a sucker for musician jokes.

Fortunately, plenty of savvy, independent musicians working outside the mainstream refuse to get locked into mediocrity. Many have become the face of West Michigan's music scene: revered by those who appreciate innovative talent even if it fails to attract major label interest.

These artists aren't beholden to the industry money machine, which once again is sure to trot out over-rated pop stars for bizarre duets in a televised Grammy spectacle just two days before the Jammies.

To be fair, nominees in 2012's revamped Grammy categories include deserving acts/critics' darlings Bon Iver, Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, The Civil Wars and Fleet Foxes, as well as a few folks with West Michigan ties: rock's Anthony Kiedis and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, R&B's El DeBarge, pianist-composer Clare Fischer and opera singer Meredith Arwady.

But it's the no-hype charm of the Jammies that really gets my musical taste buds salivating. After surviving a mostly dull January, it's the perfect kickoff to another year of promising musical highlights, with buzz-worthy international tours and notable local milestones looming ahead:

• The Black Keys make a March 18 stop at Van Andel Arena on the band's first national arena tour. The hot-as-blazes duo from Akron, touring behind a new album, El Camino, might not fill all the arena's seats, but they'll fill the rafters with their blues-infused garage rock. And "Run Like Hell" for tickets to this one: Ex-Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters brings his high-tech "The Wall" to the arena on June 6. After catching this eye-popping affair in 2010, I can vouch for it as one of rock's most impressive productions ever. Plus, don't rule out a 2012 Grand Rapids homecoming by Kiedis and the Chili Peppers.

• On a smaller stage, Calvin College's Covenant Fine Arts Center boasts appearances by Canadian hip-hop artist Shad on Feb. 13, singer-songwriter My Brightest Diamond on Feb. 20, indie-rock's Eisley on March 13, and Canadian folk-rocker Bruce Cockburn on April 20. The Intersection, meanwhile, hosts the harmony-filled Milk Carton Kids on March 21 and pop-rock's Hot Chelle Rae on April 25.

• Festival-wise, West Michigan apparently will see return of the Electric Forest Festival at Double JJ Resort north of Muskegon June 28-July 1. It's not Rothbury, but after stopping by this jam band-laden hippie camp last year, I can attest it's still got an out-of-this-world vibe. If promoters can work details out with the city, the week-long Rock the Rapids may return to parking lots behind the arena in August. And plans are afoot for an expanded and improved musical showcase hosted by St. Cecilia Music Center during this fall's ArtPrize in Grand Rapids.

• Look for major new album releases this year by local artists on the rise: singer-songwriter Drew Nelson, pop's Stepdad and Americana's The Crane Wives.

Call these welcome alternatives to the "coma-inducing" pop that's commanded attention for too long. As Santana put it, "I like melodies. I like wisdom and passion and emotion."

Me, too.

Veteran journalist John Sinkevics spent more than 13 years as The Grand Rapids Press' principal rock/pop music critic and entertainment writer. View his blog at localspins.com.

The Skies Revolt Release Some Kind of Cosmonaut

On Feb. 18, Some Kind of Cosmonaut will become the fifth line on The Skies Revolt's discography. The release celebration will be held at The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids and the band will be supported by an assortment of area rock acts — The Bangups, The Better Fight, Fine Fine Titans, and The Heartside Hooligans.

"All of our other recordings happened at a much faster pace," said Vocalist Dave Pringle, of the year-long stretch it took the band to complete Some Kind of Cosmonaut. "It is really different, and I don't expect everyone to like it, but the people who have heard parts of it think it's one of our best. We did a 48-hour sneak preview of the new album and got so many hits it crashed our website. So we are really hoping that it sits well with people."

If fans want to grab a physical copy of the album before the band departs on tour, the release show is probably the best way to do that.

"We'll most likely be selling the album cheaper at the show," Pringle said. "Maybe half off or something like that."

Some Kind of Cosmonaut was recorded at The Foxboro Studio in Grand Rapids, with producer Mike Cervantes, and will be available through digital retailers.

Ultraviolet Hippopotamus wins Homegrown Music's Album of the Year

When Ultraviolet Hippopotamus' album Square Pegs, Round Holes was nominated for 2011 Album of the Year by the Homegrown Music Network (a national organization which helps promote and support independent bands), guitarist/vocalist Russell Olmsted did not expect to win.

"We knew that if we could stay on top of the voting that it would help us out, but we figured that the award would go to one of the other bands on the list," Olmsted said.

But to his surprise, after voting ended and the top five nominees were announced - Ultraviolet Hippopotamus was still on the list. After that, it was up to the Homegrown Music judges to choose a winner.

"All of our competition was incredible," Olmsted said. "I just didn't see it coming. For example, Moksha[‘s Here to Go] - not only are they talented musicians, but it's a fantastic album. And Strange Arrangement[‘s Polygraph] was on that list too - that album rarely leaves my CD player."

Olmstead called it "surreal," when the band received the news that they'd taken first place.

"It was really ultimately thanks to the fans who voted us into the top five," he said. "Without them, we wouldn't have had a shot at all."

The album was recorded by Rob Savage at Waveform Studios in Lowell, Mich. The band will re-enter the studio this year to record the follow up to Square Pegs, Round Holes.

Life Size Ghost CD Release Show
wsg Elliott Street Lunatic & Wavvy Hands
Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapids
Feb. 2, 9:30 p.m.
Free! foundersbrewing.com, (616) 776-1195

Indie rock outfit Life Size Ghost out of Kalamazoo/Grand Rapids will release its newest album, Magnify, at Founders Brewing Company with Elliott Street Lunatic (Lansing) and Wavvy Hands (Mt. Pleasant). The event will actually be the third of three release shows, following earlier performances in both Saginaw and Mt. Pleasant.

Surrounded by saws, drills, wood-benders and other tools of the guitar-making trade in his basement, Drew Nelson held the mahogany panel next to his ear and tapped it with his fingers.

"It really rings," he marveled. "It has a character and a sound to it."

That handsome slice of wood soon will become the top of another Nelson-made acoustic guitar, forming the vital soundboard that distinguishes each instrument, giving it a distinctive resonance.

Perhaps it's only apropos that the veteran Grand Rapids singer-songwriter has turned some of his musical passion toward making guitars the past four years: He's long been a lyrical soundboard for Michigan's rough-hewn common folk and its inspiring natural beauty.

Now, he'll share that poetic vision on a bigger stage.

Signed last year to a three-record deal with Minnesota's Red House Records, Nelson officially releases his fourth full-length album Feb. 14, with a pre-release show in Grand Rapids Feb. 3.

Unlike his earlier albums, Nelson's new release falls under the auspices of a national label with a reputation for fostering some of the country's best Americana artists: Greg Brown, Eliza Gilkyson, Loudon Wainright III, John Gorka, Danny Schmidt, Lucy Kaplansky.

It's the sort of credibility and backing sure to spark broader radio airplay and ramped-up touring across the United States and overseas. (Of Irish and Scottish descent, Nelson already has cultivated a following in Ireland where he's performed previously; he'll tour the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands this fall.)

Alerted to Nelson's music after 2009's independently released Dusty Road to Beulah Land, which won a host of local awards, Red House executives snapped up the new album, Tilt-A-Whirl, that Nelson recorded last winter at Grand Rapids' Mackinaw Harvest studios

"This will be the record to open some doors," Nelson said, buoyed by the notion that a widely respected label had "taken the time to sift through X amount of people" and put him in their stable of artists. "The goal is to tour for the next 12 to 15 years."

Tilt-A-Whirl also marks a shift in sound, with instruments such as a Hammond B3 organ, by an artist who isn't content to stand still in the singer-songwriter genre.

"I got real comfortable with rocking out a bit more," Nelson said of the album recorded mostly live with Grand Rapids producer Michael Crittenden. "I think the writing's better, more concise."

The "gritty" album — mastered in Colorado by the Grammy Award-winning David Glasser — still tells the stories Nelson has told so well for years: poignant love ballads, rustic tales of the downtrodden.

A few rock-edged tracks boast blistering electric guitar work by Crittenden and Brett Lucas (guitarist for Detroit soul singer Bettye Lavette). Nelson also called on veteran Michigan musicians Mark Schrock, Drew Howard, Brian Morrill and Jen Sygit to back him on the project. They holed up for more than week in the studio amid a snowstorm, Crittenden recalled, "with the fireplace running full tilt, candles burning, lights down low and a great group of musicians who all understood our vision so well."

Crittenden, among the first to encourage Nelson to pursue and record his music more than a decade ago, sounds like a proud father these days.

"It has been rewarding to see Drew grow into a songwriter who can get deep inside the experiences of the wealth of characters he sings about," he said. "He has become a master of singing from their perspective."

That perspective has roots in a humble upbringing near Kent City, where Nelson learned to appreciate the hard work put in by his electrician father, local foundry workers and farming neighbors, where he found joy sitting on the porch listening to folks churn out songs.

His life experiences since have grounded his music even more: a stint in the U.S. Navy, working construction and odd jobs, embracing traditions of the Native American community thanks to Two Dogs, a friend he's known since age 3.

"I get a lot of strength from them and so much love. It really resonates with me," said Nelson, who lives in Northeast Grand Rapids with his wife, Nicole.

It's all made the budding luthier with long, dark locks a colorful and outspoken artist, Schrock said.

"Honest, a little gritty, a little sentimental, a little populist," Schrock said. "Suffice it to say, Drew Nelson is the real deal."

Nelson also is eager to finally unleash Tilt-A-Whirl on the world, more than a year after writing and recording the album.

"I'm ready for this to get out," he said. "It's not about me, it's about the material and getting it out in the best way. I'm aching to share it with people. I'm itchy to let it be alive."