From the desert to the subconscious, alternative runs deep: Dino DiMuro's ELMWOOD finally surfaces after 20 years — a head-trippy avant-rock concept album pulled from the archives at last. Ken Wohlrob's Forgotten Music conjures instinctual ambient compositions that feel "both familiar and alien," while theJLM scores a 23-minute experimental film dissecting the pernicious unreality of the American Dream. Libel blends danceable synth-pop with guitar theatrics on The Accumulation of Things, and Chris of Wilderness delivers mutant bluesy electronic rock born from scorched-earth Sonoran Desert sessions. Jonathan Hadley asks "who are you when you stop trying to please everyone else?" and Get Lost Cassidy Frost answers with a tender, KEXP-approved late-night drive of a song.

Alternative releases