Schoolboy “Project No-Autotune” Out Now

When L.A.-based producer Schoolboy wrote the plot behind the music video for his new single “Project No-Autotune,” he looked to Project Mayhem from the movie Fight Club for inspiration.

In the iconic film, Tyler Durden’s band of white-collar guerilla warriors take down the Los Angeles skyline. But Schoolboy, 26-year-old Erik Castro, scripted in a trio of baseball-bat-swinging, wolf-mask-wearing men assaulting corporate media in the streets of Albuquerque for his picture.

“Back here in L.A., Fox owns most of the TV stations, so it’s kind of like a monopoly,” explained Castro, who released the single on Beatport and video on Youtube today. “If they want a certain artist to be big they’ll just push it.”

The video’s story, written by Castro and directed by Ryan Valdez, follows the pack as they smash T.V.s in the alleys, shops and business headquarters of the city, freeing hypnotized viewers from the control of mass media.

The destruction climaxes when the trio break into the set of a broadcasting television studio, shattering camera equipment before disabling the head of the oppressive operation, a man with only a TV for a face.

“I originally wanted the guy to have the Fox News logo on him, but we took it out,” Castro half-joked, half-lamented. “We were going to have these news anchors instead of him but we decided to go with the TV head.”

Project No-Autotune’s audio has the trademark spine-chilling-take on drum and bass that Schoolboy is known for from his popular single “Zombies Ate My Neighbours” from his 2012 EP “The Science Project.”

“I tend to go for very eerie, diminished minor chords, that’s my thing,” Castro said. “[The beat is] going from double time to half step so it’s all over the place. Part of it is you have to be screwed up in the head.”

The track’s aggressive, screaming vocal samples are provided from L.A. rapper Hyra Da Hero’s track “Sleeping Giants.”

“Not only did I get to use his voice for the track,” Castro said. “We’re working on two original tracks with him so it’ll be pretty sweet.”

The future looks promising for Schoolboy. Castro has already finished “The Silver Lining,” a 3-track collaboration EP with James Egbert that will be dropped in Spring. He’s also producing tracks with Carnage and Boregore.

“One of the things I want to do is work on the score of a horror movie at some point,” Castro said. “I’m a big fan of Hans Zimmer, he’s my idol when it comes to scoring.”

Castro said he doesn’t plan on adding any more shows to his touring schedule until at least Summer, but he’d like to play Europe in the near future and “Australia definitely this year.”

“I want to do a nice three week tour,” he said. “I’ve been there as Laser Tag but not Schoolboy, and I know I have a pretty good following over there.”

Buy on Beatport.

Written By: Michael Scott Davidson