When we last checked in with MKEpunk in 2021, the invaluable musical resource and sprawling online archive of Wisconsin-made punk, hardcore, ska, and emo was saved from the brink of extinction by getting some much-needed back end updates. In the process of essentially rebuilding the site from square one, some new features and more releases were added to improve the overall user experience. More than five years later, MKEpunk has taken another sizable step forward.
This week, the site unveiled another major update that makes it far easier to explore and experience the nearly 500 bygone releases in its ever-growing collection. The MKEpunk Radio Player allows listeners to be served a randomized sampling of streamable songs from the archive as part of the “Make Me A Mixtape” feature. It’s kind of like Spotify, but minus the all the ads, algorithms, account requirements, and underlying artist-unfriendly evilness.
“We’ve been sitting on this archive for a long time,” says a MKEpunk Facebook post. “Now we’re letting it play back differently—a freeform mixtape built from the MKEpunk collection, designed for discovery instead of linear listening.”
You’re but a click away from a randomly curated sampling of Wisconsin-made music released between the early 1980s and mid-aughts, as well as info on each release. If you don’t like what you’re hearing, just skip to the next track. Check out a brand new way to listen to old songs and check out the MKEpunk Radio Player now.