Schmekel was an all-transgender, Jewish folk punk band from Brooklyn, New York, known for their satirical lyrical material. Schmekel made their audiences more comfortable with transgender topics through jokes, but also often included lyrical references to obscure queer, Jewish, and punk content that only cultural insiders would recognize. Their most popular song was "FTM at the DMV", which has over 400,000 plays on Spotify as of 2024.
Hugh Ryan for The New York Times compared Schmekel's sound to Pansy Division and compared Lucian Kahn's songwriting to Jewish singer-songwriter and satirist Tom Lehrer. The Advocate compared Schmekel to Pansy Division and Tribe 8, and the book Listen to Punk Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre compared Schmekel's song "I'll Be Your Maccabee" to Pansy Division's song "Homo Christmas."
Schmekel was active from 2010 to 2014. They broke up in February 2014 to focus on other projects.