FROM THE DEADWAX No. 009: Daft Punk — The New Wave

Some records tell their story through a sleeve, a label and a familiar catalogue number. Others leave questions behind. FROM THE DEADWAX No. 009 is one of those records: Daft Punk’s The New Wave, a UK Soma Quality Recordings 12-inch from 1994.

This particular physical copy also has a story of survival. It was recovered from a collection of records destined for landfill and preserved by Second Spin Creations.

What the physical copy tells us

The record carries the catalogue number SOMA 14. On the printed-label side, direct inspection of the runout found SOMA-14-B together with a separate faint mark that appears as MA or M/A. On the opposite plain white-label side, no runout inscription was observed.

That absence matters. FROM THE DEADWAX does not add characters from database examples simply because comparable copies may contain them. The archive records what is physically present on the surviving copy in front of us, and it records uncertainty where uncertainty remains.

A white-label copy with an unresolved status

The copy is a white-label SOMA 14 variant, but the evidence currently available does not establish with certainty whether it should be described specifically as a promotional copy or a test pressing. For that reason its exact promo-versus-test status remains unresolved.

Likewise, the faint MA/M/A mark has been observed on the physical record, but no cutting or mastering attribution is being claimed without stronger evidence. The exact pressing plant has not been independently established.

Why the deadwax matters

Runout inscriptions are one of the most useful pieces of physical evidence on a vinyl record. They can distinguish one pressing or cut from another and sometimes reveal manufacturing or mastering information that is not obvious from the sleeve.

But they are most useful when they are transcribed carefully. With No. 009, the incomplete and uncertain evidence is part of the record’s story rather than something to be filled in.

FROM THE DEADWAX · No. 009

Every record accepted into the FROM THE DEADWAX archive receives a permanent sequential number belonging to that documented physical record. This surviving copy of The New Wave is No. 009.

The collector print interprets the evidence as original Second Spin Creations artwork while keeping the physical runout observations at the centre of the design.

Some records don’t tell you everything. That’s part of the story.

THE SLEEVE TELLS THE STORY. THE DEADWAX IDENTIFIES THE COPY.

SECOND SPIN CREATIONS · RESEARCH · PRESERVE · CELEBRATE

Independent collector research artwork by Second Spin Creations. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the featured artist or original record label.