The Donnas: The Donnas Turn 21

All-woman rock bands tend to face a steady diet of condescension, as critics and fans pile on girls-can-rock-too faint praise, leering objectification, and excessive analysis of a political message that may or may not exist. The members of The Donnas—a young rock band with a sound that seems influenced in equal measure by the Ramones, Joan Jett, and a thousand girl groups—face all three pitfalls, yet don't seem to care. Like its progressively more polished predecessors, The Donnas Turn 21 races through a hooky, ham-fisted assortment of put-downs and come-ons, dispensed with the rare twin commodities of wit and pop craftsmanship. It's easy to be distracted by the band's memorable single-entendres ("I'll let you flip my flipper / if you let me unzip your zipper"), but Turn 21 is downright transcendent once it compresses speed and style into two-minute micro-masterpieces like "Police Blitz" and the incomparable put-down anthem "Little Boy." Aside from a few labored moments (the clunky "40 Boys In 40 Nights"), the album consistently evinces The Donnas' ongoing and surprising evolution. By the time it gets to a rip-roaring cover of Judas Priest's "Living After Midnight," it's clear the band is destined to have it both ways, toying with irony while rocking mightily. That's no small feat.