Now, 45 seconds isn’t much on which to judge a track, let alone a record. But it’s been over a decade since DJ Krush released an original full-length studio album, 2004’s 寂 -Jaku-, so we’ll take what we can get. A full three years since he last updated his SoundCloud page ([soundcloud.com/dj-krush-official](https://soundcloud.com/dj-krush-official)) comes a pair of samples from the forthcoming Butterfly Effect.
The lounge-friendly, self-forwardly romantic “Future Correction” is on the more populist end of Krush’s approach to hip-hop/soul production: steady beat, lilting piano, shimmery washes of sound. It’s very much W Hotel lobby music, but a dramatic fissure early on suggests some promise, as do stereoscopic effects and the way that piano at times pierces the background-music veil and risks irritating the ear at a high register.
The real treat is the far more muddy, dire, and percussively inventive “Probability.” I played this on loop for an hour shortly after Krush announced the upload [on his Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/DJKRUSHofficial/posts/1115827041764165). At first the track is marked primarily by the fundamental loping beat common to downtempo instrumental hip-hop. But on repeat listens, so much emerges from the darkness: deep glottal chanting, castanet-like finger snaps, backward-masked sweeps of nervous sound, deliciously peculiar sonic squiggles, and many more delectable little touches. After an 11-year lull, the sheer detail of “Probability” is proof that DJ Krush has, in fact, been very, very busy in the recording studio.
*Butterfly Effect* is due out September 26. “Probability” segment originally posted at [soundcloud.com/dj-krush-official](https://soundcloud.com/dj-krush-official/dj-krush-probability-45sec). More from Krush at his official page, [sus81.jp/djkrush](http://sus81.jp/djkrush/). Bonus: the album cover is by accomplished anime director Koji Morimoto, who cut his teeth on *Akira*.