Words by Helen Jennings
CLASH CALLS UP ALI LOVE TO TALK ABOUT SWEET LURVIN’. APTLY ENOUGH HE PICKS UP THE RECEIVER WHILE LYING IN BED. NOT HIS OWN BED. “I’D STAY IN BED ALL DAY IF I COULD.” HE SIGHS AS CLASH NOTES THE TIME AS 6PM, “THERE’S A CAT HERE AND IT’S NICE. I DID HAVE A MASSIVE WEEKEND, SO I’M RECOVERING.”
Brought up by bohemian parents in Norfolk the DJ/producer moved to London aged 18, where he daydreamed about making music and taught himself guitar and bass. He plied his trade as a session musician and soon enough his own take on funk fuelled, disco dipped house music took shape. Last year’s white label release K Hole was his hedonistic report from East London s club scene. “I was going out a lot at the time and getting into all sorts of trouble so that song is a mixture of nights I’ve had all bunged into one. It’s about young people’s lives and it hit a nerve.”
With that club banger under his nimble belt, Ali set about making his debut album Love Music . As the title suggests, it’s all about boys who like girls who like boys and the fall out from all the debauchery. The single Secret Sunday Lover , is his ode to the legendary club Secret Sundaze, and to his eternal belief in finding love on the dancefloor. “I believe in that warm, loved up feeling that music can create”, he yawns.
Other cuts like Doin the Dirty deal with a subject close to his heart: “I used have a very rich model girlfriend whose house I sat around for a few years.” Ali explains, “What’s a musician without a girlfriend? Homeless. That was me! And then she dropped the bomb that she was cheating on me. Men think they’re in control but women are really.”
ALI LOVE’S TOP 10 LOVE SONGS
Marvin Gaye My Love Is Waiting
This song is off one of my favourite albums, Midnight Love . It’s the last one Marvin Gaye made before he died tragically. Very electric.
Lou Reed I Love You, Suzanne
It’s a great song from one his 1980s albums, New Sensations, which inspired me to make Love Music .
Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Penetration
Well, it is about a certain kind of love, put it that way.
Al Green Let’s Stay Together
This song was made famous by Tina Turner but the original is much better.
Snoop Dogg, Ain’t No Fun
It’s an anti-love and anti-women song but it-s still about love technically speaking.
It’s about young people’s lives and it hit a nerve.
John Lennon, Love
It’s a daydream song, the sort of song that s hardly tangible. And it’s from the great album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band .
Luther Vandross, All My Love
Just a great dancefloor classic.
Bootsy Collins, I’d Rather Be With You
An amazing space funk acid fried intergalactic love song.
Paul Simon, Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
This track reminds me of my childhood and the 1980s afrobeat explosion that everyone got into.
Ali Love, Love Cliche
A song by me! It s a tripped out track with Isley Brothers style guitars.
Shot at The George Tavern, Commercial Road, E1
Ali Love wears black quilted fur trimmed hooded parka by Paul & Joe. Striped t-shirt, silver rings and LED sunglasses his own.
