DJ Uncovers and Releases Lost Daft Punk Mix From the 1990s

An England-based DJ has restored and released a lost Daft Punk mix that had been buried in an archive since 1997. DJ Ralph Lawson put out a video on the hour-long, 30-year-old Daft Punk mix on October 21 after he uncovered it two years ago in a collection of tapes he had stored away, according to posts he made about the discovery. The tape was moldy, and it ripped when he tried to play it following its unearthing in 2024, Lawson said. He sent it to Great Bear audio and video digitizing specialists in Bristol, England for restoration. “I think that’s fresh,” Lawson said in the video while doing a live release of the mix. “I think that’s new. I guess that must have been exclusive.” Lawson said the French EDM duo had sent him the tape three decades ago to play on a radio show he hosted while they were promoting their first album, 1997’s Homework. When he first found the old tape, he was nervous it didn’t contain an unreleased mix and worried the content of the tape was the well-known Essential Mix from 1997 that Daft Punk released on BBC radio. But after listening and researching, Lawson found it definitely wasn’t the Essential Mix and couldn’t find any information about the stowed-aw...