'No one sounds like Daft Punk and I'm very, very excited to hear their new stuff,' says German DJ/producer Boys Noize.

It's been almost 8 years since we got a new studio album from electronic dance icons Daft Punk. But that long spell will reportedly end in the spring, when French duo Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo drop their fourth studio album on their new label, Columbia Records.

Details are sketchy at this point about the disc, but Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers has recently said the album is imminent. A number of others are also reportedly contributing to the project, including Animal Collective's Panda Bear, disco icon Giorgio Moroder and Chilly Gonzales. A spokesperson for Columbia deferred requests for comment to the pair's independent publicist, who could not be reached for comment at press time.

German electronic producer Boys Noize recently told MTV News that he was not at liberty to say much, but that he knows that "some good friends" worked with DF and that the effort will be "amazing."

"Daft Punk has always been a big influence," he said. "Not because of the songs, but about that sound and production. To this day ... no one got on that level ... No one sounds like Daft Punk and I'm very, very excited to hear their new stuff." Even though he's not heard any of the new music, BN said he can imagine what it will sound like and expects it will blow minds.

One of the most unlikely collaborators is Oscar-winning songwriter Paul Williams (author of the Muppets' "Rainbow Connection"), the subject of the 2011 documentary "Paul Williams is Still Alive." Williams told the Hollywood Reporter last year that he was "working with another composer writing lyrics," declining to give details on the "couple" of tunes he was working on at the time, but adding "I just think they're amazingly brilliant. The way they explore the possibilities of sound. And I'm also totally attracted to the fact that they choose to do it anonymously. I think that's fantastic."

Before scoring the "TRON: Legacy" reboot in 2010, the group released the studio album Human After All in 2005.