Side H - "Dirt"

Side H. Photo via Bandcamp.

Side H is Harley Astorga, an Olathe native currently residing in Los Angeles. Though he is best known for his work as a director of photography on music videos from Freddie Gibbs, Miquela, and Hanni El Khatib, Astorga decided to set down his camera for a moment and offer his followers some music on Friday. "Dirt" is a song by California-via-Michigan rapper Bones from his 2013 mixtape Scumbag. Bones has maintained a passionate cult following for nearly a decade now, but the song is perhaps known better as a prominent sample on A$AP Rocky's 2015 track "Canal St." 

 

Astorga's orchestral reworking of "Dirt" captures the song's ghostly energy and imagines it as soundtrack to an indie thriller. Since The Social Network's clever use of Radiohead's "Creep" in its trailer back in 2010, the eerie-cover-song-as-movie-trailer-soundtrack trope has been inescapable, but the elegance with which Astorga executes "Dirt" allows it to transcend the decade-long fad. Maybe we'll see Side H pop up with a film credit sooner than later.

Stream or download the song below.