Simon's blog, 5:4 (5 against 4) focuses on new contemporary/avant-garde classical music.
What was the first song you ever bought?
Blue Monday – New Order
I hadn't heard of New Order when I bought this, but I was attracted by the amazing design, the 12in vinyl contained in floppy-disk style packaging. It turned out to be one of the best songs I'd ever heard (and still is).
What song always gets you dancing?
Sun & Moon feat. Richard Bedford (Dennis Sheperd Remix) – Above & Beyond
Lately, it's been Above & Beyond. Unlike pretty much every other producer of trance, they bring real musical nous to their music. Richard Bedford's voice is irresistible in this song, and Dennis Sheperd's remix even manages to knocks spots off the original.
What song takes you back to your childhood?
Autobahn – Kraftwerk
Discovering Kraftwerk in my early teens was a revelation, switching me on to the joys of electronica.
What is your perfect love song?
If Only Tonight We Could Sleep – The Cure
Exotic, heady, intoxicating, passionate and moving – exactly what a love song should be.
What song would you want at your funeral?
Im Abendrot – Richard Strauss
This is the last of Strauss' Four Last Songs, but any of them would do just as well. Strauss always had an uncanny gift to combine incredible beauty with almost unbearable sadness. Perfect.
Time for the encore. One last song that makes you, you.
Clara – Scott Walker
Difficult to answer a question like this, but The Drift is easily the best album I've ever heard, and this is perhaps its finest song. It's daring, visionary, and it encapsulates pretty much everything I love most about music; there aren't many songs about which you can say that.
• Listen to Simon's six songs and join in the project by telling us which songs mean the to most to you at sixsongsof.me.
