Lost in the K-hole

Other people’s drug stories are never that interesting. Especially if they involve magic mushrooms. “Yeah man, it was like this and it was great and this and that happened and…” by which time you have slunk off to get another drink / find someone better to talk to. But here’s young Mr Ali Love, straight outta his flat above On The Rocks in Shoreditch with his own drug related escapade – following his debauched evening round East London, a rave in Docklands, and a dive into the underbelly of Soho, which ends up with Ali’s dive into some bins up some back alley.

The catalyst for the evening’s entertainment is none other than the people’s horse tranquiliser of choice, ketamine. Now who knows if the story is true – whether he really did buy some K instead of cocaine from a dealer in the Old Blue Last, whether he did pull a dominatrix at the rave and end up in her Soho pad, and whether he did get a kicking from her bouncer boyfriend and end up in the aforementioned alley. Who knows even if it’s a salutary warning against ketamine, or whether despite his assertion that he’s “never going there again”, he’s actually celebrating it. Whatever, it’s a fairly compelling listen and certainly struck a chord with the kids, since it’s become a bit of an anthem on John Kennedy’s Xfm show. So Ali came in with his mates a couple of weeks ago to play some tracks and chat.

The results below are posted for your listening pleasure. I’m aware that many of you won’t have heard the original, so head over to Ali’s myspace to check out the full rockin’ version as well as the acoustic one I’ve got here. While you’re there, you can also get an alternative version of Camera on a Pole.

My favourite Ali Love track unhelpfully isn’t posted here at all. It’s the B-side to K-Hole – Video Dream Girl, a lovely little tune that sounds like it could have recorded in the mid-80s. I think it’s definitely better song, but I guess it doesn’t have the anthemic fists-in-the-air-down-the-indie-disco nature of the A-side. Unfortunately as I don’t have the lurid pink 7 inch vinyl I don’t have the mp3, but we can all enjoy listening to it at Ali’s website (along with an Erol Alkan remix of K-Hole).

The last track below was actually my introduction to Mr Love. It’s his cover version of M. Craft’s brilliant You Are the Music, which he makes a decent fist of. Though if you haven’t heard the original, check my previous post and buy the excellent M. Craft album!

Download: Ali Love – Lost in the K-Hole (live on Xfm)
Download: Ali Love – Camera on a Pole (live on Xfm)
Download: Ali Love – K-Hole (Sebastian remix)
Download: Ali Love – You are the Music (M. Craft cover)

Buy the K-Hole 7 inch from Rough Trade.