Cool Schmool, Havania Whaal, Creature to Creature, Deadbeat Club
Recommended
It’d be difficult to find an active Portland punk band with harmonies as interesting as those of Cool Schmool, with a band name that reflects the classic song from Olympia’s Bratmobile. Last year the three-piece released Catchy Not Sketchy, an EP that makes good on its title’s promise; each song is a rough pop nugget mixing shimmering garage rock guitars and loud punk bass lines. On “Blahhh” lead vocalist/guitarist Kaitie L. Hereford sings “Talk is cheap and you talk a lot,” a line that sounds inspired by Addie Bundren’s chapter of As I Lay Dying, where her compassionless husband Anse embodies the emptiness of language. Joining Cool Schmool are the veteran Portland post-punks of Havania Whaal, local queercore five-piece Creature to Creature, and the touring Northhampton, Massachusetts no-wave group Deadbeat Club. CAMERON CROWELL