Blood makes noise

British Columbia art-rock quartet Mock Media tear through punk, power pop, dub, hard rock, and electronic sounds on their unpredictable new album Rat Bastard.

British Columbia art-rock band Mock Media have released their new album, Rat Bastard, through Mac’s Record Label. Across ten tracks, the quartet treat rock history like a room full of instruments waiting to be grabbed, combining punk energy with power-pop hooks, dub rhythms, hard-rock guitars, and unexpected electronic turns.

Mock Media features Evan Aasen on guitar and vocals, Garnet Aronyk Muhammad on bass and vocals, Austin Boylan on guitar and vocals, and Bennett Smith on drums. Childhood friends long before becoming bandmates, the four musicians bring that familiarity into music that often sounds ready to fly apart without ever actually losing control.

“Mock City Rock” makes an early case for the band’s particular brand of art-punk. Sharp guitars and an anthemic attitude give the track an immediate charge, while the title track adds bouncing drums, chants, and an off-center power-pop spirit.

From there, Rat Bastard happily refuses to settle down. “Fell From The Top” and “City’s On Fire” bring dub influences into the band's restless rock framework, while “Crushed” takes a warmer and more melodic route. “Take It” reaches toward power-ballad territory without losing Mock Media’s strange personality.

The second half keeps opening new doors. “Built For Speed” embraces heavy metal with little concern for art-rock restraint, while “Straight Line” pulls another sharp turn by crashing guitar music into frantic electronic energy. What could become a collection of disconnected experiments instead holds together through the personality of the musicians playing them.

That freedom is central to Rat Bastard. Mock Media are less interested in protecting a carefully defined sound than following whatever idea makes the four members excited to play together. Beneath the humor and sudden stylistic changes is serious musicianship, allowing the band to jump between genres without sounding uncertain.

The result is a rock record with dirt under its fingernails and very little respect for boundaries. Rat Bastard is noisy, playful, wiry, and proudly difficult to pin down, capturing Mock Media as four friends chasing the strange possibilities that appear when nobody tells them where a song is supposed to go.