Last year, Def Jux barely registered a blip on the hip-hop radar, but if the label’s head honcho El-P can help it, 2007 will tell a different story. On El’s long-overdue sophomore solo shot, his intricate beats and rhymes sound as if they were inspired by an impending apocalypse-like calculated chaos. At times, like on the overly busy, rock-tinged “Dear Sirs,” his sonic angst can get the best of him. But more often his layered synths, dirty drums, and abstract social commentary makes for some quality next shit-just what Def Jux needs to resurface in ’07.