In a strange but awesome collaboration, Beastie Boys‘ Mike D has joined Cat Power on the new single Action from French synthpop duo Cassius.
Premiered on BBC Radio, the track features sleek pop vocals from Chan Marshall and endearingly abrasive rap interludes from Mike D. It ends up an insanely catchy cool disco song, complete with dissonant saxophone accents that maybe only the French can get away with.
Cassius produced Beast Boys’ Hot Sauce Committee Part Two and connected with Cat Power through the same record because she loved the sound so much. Cassius then worked on her 2012 album Sun. Philipe from Cassius says their collaboration is now like “a family affair.”
Mike D, who came in to the recording unexpectedly when he heard Cat Power doing the vocal track, told Pitchfork of the song, “[It] 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.” Too true, mate.
He added that the track satisfies his own nostalgia for old pop music. “I’m really kind of a little bit romantic for the lost era. There’s a lot of us that are … we feel like it’s this magic era that happened before us. 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.”
Listen: Cassius, Action (feat. Cat Power and Mike D):
