Daft Punk – Drive Unreleased 1994 (Preview) by soma


‘Drive’, a previously unreleased Daft Punk track from 1994, is now available to preview online.

As previously reported, the track was unearthed by Soma Records, who released the French duo’s early singles, and is included on the label’s new 3xCD compilation Soma 20 Years, out today. You can stream a large chunk of the track via the Soundcloud player above.

A note from Soma explains:

“At the tail end of 2010 we combed through boxes of DATs, pictures and god knows what else to find artefacts of Soma’s early days. Imagine our surprise when we discovered a tape simply titled ‘Daft Drive’. We hooked up the DAT machine and inserted the tape with the utmost care, pressing play and praying that for one, the tape contained what we hoped, and two, that it didn’t savage it like a dog chewing on a bone. In amongst the hiss and crackle, a monstrous 909 kick drum began to thud – Daft Punk’s ‘Drive’ track had been rediscovered. Playing through was live Daft Punk: the freaky vocals, pounding Roland drums & synths and that distinctive DP compression. After standing in awed silence, witnessing this moment, the track faded off and we heard the sounds of French words that the recording had been made over; the remnants of their parents audio collection. The tape had originally been sent with ‘Rollin’ and Scratchin’’ to be released as Soma25 but Soma asked these two bright-eyed and techno-bound Frenchmen, to finish and send ‘Da Funk’ instead and ‘Drive’ was shelved for a later date. Until now.”

We also learn, via Pitchfork, that veteran songwriter Paul Williams (the man responsible for ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ and ‘Let Me Be the One’ among others) is currently collaborating with Daft Punk. More information when we have it.