Mike D photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

Cassius haven't released a proper album since 2006's 15 Again, but Philippe Zdar — one-half of the French electronic duo, along with Boom Bass — has stayed busy as a mixer and producer. His credits include albums by Phoenix, the Rapture, Kindness, Chromeo, and Kele, as well as the Beastie Boys and Cat Power. Those last two return the favor on Cassius' new single "Action," which features guest vocals from the Beasties' Mike D and Cat Power's Chan Marshall. The track premiered on Annie Mac's Radio 1 show today. Listen to it above.

Mike D told Pitchfork the collaboration came about as Zdar was playing tracks for him and Marshall in New York City. "I did bring a couple bottles of wine to the studio," Mike D said. "And then started writing my part and went from there." He added: "The song came with this world liberation theme and then I came with a modern-day relationship theme, and somehow the two went together. It's kind of like toast and Vegemite go together only in Australia."

The Beastie Boys member said he had known Zdar since the producer mixed the Beasties' 2011 album Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, and that he, Zdar, and Boom Bass share a strong affinity for the early days of disco. "I'm really kind of a little bit romantic for the lost era," he said. "There's a lot of us that are — kind like James Murphy, same thing — we feel like it's this magic era that happened before us. And it wasn't even necessarily disco. It was a promise of how creative a DJ could be with funk, soul, Italo — whatever you want to call it — music to make this experience. It was the beginning of the DJ as a headliner."

Mike D explained that "Action" is "in a sense capturing that era of a Compass Point record that gets played in the Loft in New York City, but today."