“I’ve done this solo thing for quite a long time,” Ryan Adams tells the Smoking Section, after a few cigarettes. “I’ve never found my footing with it.” Adams wanted to release the wonderful new disc Easy Tiger as a Cardinals record, without his name on the cover. His label, Lost Highway, shot him down, so it’s Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. But as Adams morphs from a solo star into a Cardinal, he’ll release a massive box set this winter, full of never-before-heard albums. Here’s a taste. 48 Hours: This album was bootlegged and traded, but never in the completed version. The Suicide Handbook: Made before Gold, this surfaced as an acoustic bootleg, but, Adams says, “Nobody has heard the strings, the bass or [drummer] Brad Pemberton – it’s a heavy record.” Darkbreaker: “A fucking dark record. It’s creepy – I was really depressed.” Black Hole: “I was on a lot of narcotics when I wrote it. It sounds like the Strokes, but if they sucked.” Add to those a couple of rarities discs (tentatively titled Let It B-Minus and Demolicious) and, says Adams, “It’s still not everything we have.”

“You’re gonna love it when you hear it, that’s a promise.” Alicia Keys talks a big game to the S.S. about her upcoming disc, but can she back it up? Though it’s been four years since The Diary of Alicia Keys, she says that the new album found its soul after she took a revelatory trip to Egypt. “I went by myself,” she says. “Sailing down the Nile, swimming in the Red Sea. I climbed to the top of a pyramid, and I realized how much power we all hold.” Arriving home, Keys came up with “sounds and songs that are better, bigger and more powerful than before.” She describes the vibe as “a little bit aggressive and rebellious,” but when pressed for further details, Keys clams up. “I’m going to have to save some of this for our cover story.” We hope that day will come.

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Welcome back, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez! The Mars Volta mastermind – who just released a solo album, Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo, featuring Chili Pepper John Frusciante – has moved back to America after a stint in Amsterdam. The guitarist found a place in Brooklyn, where he’s putting the final touches on a hot new M.V. album. “There are fifteen-minute songs, and there’s literally a two-minute song,” he reports. Saddening was the recent departure of powerhouse drummer Jon Theodore, but Omar has an ace up his sleeve for when M.V. set out on a “long tour” around the disc’s fall release. “His name is Thomas Pridgen, and he’s a fucking monster,” Omar says. “I was told he’s like Jon, but on coke. He’s the perfect fit.” Beware.