Kevin Bronson on March 2nd, 2022

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Singles roundup, Dept. of Rock: Check out these offerings from Ships Have Sailed, No Win and Steve Aoki & Grandson …

SHIPS HAVE SAILED, “More”

As Will Carpenter told us early in the pandemic, Ships Have Sailed — his partnership with drummer Art Andranikyan — stayed focused on productivity. The band has a steady stream of singles as evidence, all of which will add up the March 24 release of their album “Ages.” The full-length will lack nothing for extremes: Early singles “Stay” and “Skin” might be characterized as nice-guy rockers; “Love in October” and “Broken Hearts” reveal the songwriter’s ability to tug heartstrings. Then there is the new single, “More,” a dose of sweaty, swaggering blues. “”Sometimes you just want to make a little noise. As a song, ‘More’ is an all out rocker … As part of a larger body of work, ‘More’ is that point where everything feels ego-driven before things start to crumble and the inevitable self-realization kicks in. The drums hit heavy with just the right amount of ‘loose’ and the guitar is pretty much one riff after another (the main one doubled with a massive gang vocal) and a slightly sloppy solo sandwiched in the middle. Both Art and I had fun channeling our inner ’70s arena gods and then dialed it all in with the finesse of a modern twist.”

NO WIN, “Spent Outside”

The follow-up to “New Year,” “Spent Outside” is another loosey-goosey dive into ’90s guitar angst from Danny Nogueiras. “We’re living in some stupid times / and I’m about to lose my mind / somebody get me out of here,” he rails, longing for the simple pleasure of a beer with friends. “‘Spent Outside’ is about dissecting every minor convenience of your life during the early stages of quarantine and being coupled up,” Nogueiras says. “All I wanted was to leave the house and live normally, but it wasn’t an option. It made me think about everything we take for granted as time just seemed to pass by. Time seemed to fly by, while also passing excruciatingly slow.” No Win’s new EP, “Enhanced CD,” is out March 31.

STEVE AOKI & GRANDSON, “Kult”

Jordan Benjamin — aka Grandson — has followed up his breakout 2020 album, “Death of an Optimist,” by collaborating on singles with artists such as Two Feet, Kesha, Travis Barker, Jessie Reyez, Idris Elba and more. The new single “Kult” finds him dialing it up to 11 with Steve Aoki, with a cameo by Ohio’s Jasiah. The single will appear on Aoki’s forthcoming full-length. Says Grandson: “‘Kult’ is about what happens when the imaginary world becomes more attractive than the real world we inhabit. It’s about the cognitive disassociation with reality in a dystopian hellscape, but set at a Steve Aoki concert.”