Inside+Out Interview with DJ MK Ultramatic

Fresh Beats: Meet Hudson Valley Spinner MK Ultramatic

By Sal Cataldi | February 24, 2025

We here at INSIDE+OUT Upstate NY spend a lot of time profiling our world-class local music scene—Americana, jazz, folk, indie rock, and even experimental artists. But a big part of Hudson Valley’s joy in music comes from the people who spin records – the talented DJs who keep things percolating at clubs, festivals, weddings, and the like.

We’re thrilled to be casting our eyes and ears on a dozen local DJs who know how to get the party started and rolling till the wee hours. We could think of no better way to kick off this series than by focusing on MK Scully (aka MK Ultramatic). A veteran of WDST-Radio Woodstock and now the drive-time jock on WKZE-FM, she has another life as a club and wedding DJ when she’s not hurtling down mountains on skis.

Read on to get to know this excellent curator of new and old sounds in the club, at the wedding reception, and on the radio.

INSIDE+OUT: When did you first become interested in music, and how did you start your DJ career?

MK Scully: Music has always been important to me. I grew up in a house where music was almost always on in the background. In my early 20s, I discovered a passion for music curation that made radio, and then DJing, a natural fit. Dave Leonard of JTD Productions, who also hosts the syndicated show Radio Unleashed on WDST, recruited me to work the party and event circuit shortly after I started at the station in 2015.

Describe what makes you unique in the DJ space, your favorite music to spin, and your favorite kind of place or event to work.

What makes me unique in the DJ space, apart from being one of the few female wedding DJs in the Hudson Valley, is that I have as much fun as my audience, and it shows! You can always catch me bopping behind the decks, lip-syncing, and interacting with the crowd. I always feel that if I’m not enjoying my set, how can I expect anyone else to? Wedding clients have told me that my energy made their guests feel comfortable to really cut loose on the dance floor without being self-conscious, which is a huge compliment.

My favorite music to spin is Nudisco! I love anything with a boppy little beat and fun electronic sounds, the things that just make you want to boogie. I also love classic disco, Italo disco, anything that’s a little unexpected but irresistible. My favorite kind of event to work? I feel like weddings and wedding DJs get a bad rap. Still, a wedding where the crowd is ready to dance is incredibly fun, especially when you can surprise the guests with bangers that aren’t necessarily typical “wedding songs.” For example, I can’t remember the last time I played “Sweet Caroline.”

What have been some of your favorite experiences DJing in the Hudson Valley?

I DJ’d a poolside set two years in a row at my good friend’s backyard music festival. We had gorgeous weather the first year, so I set up in the flatbed of his buddy’s vintage pickup truck. That was pretty memorable – spinning poolside beats in a bikini from the back of a truck!

What is your go-to song to spin when you need to pump up a crowd that’s not feeling it?

DJing is all about reading a room, so it depends on the crowd. But I have a trick I use if there’s a lull during a wedding reception. You can’t take it personally – people get tired! If I lose most of my dancers, I’ll lower the volume and throw on “All Night Long” by Lionel Ritchie. It’s got a long, mellow buildup that lets the crowd take a breather, get a drink, etc, and then five or six minutes in, you get that excellent horn part that never fails to call a crowd back to the floor. “Funkytown” by Lipps Inc is also a cross-generational smash!

What are your three favorite desert island discs?

That’s really hard to narrow it down! I have to include Steely Dan. My favorite album changes annually, but right now, I’ll go with Can’t Buy A Thrill. It’s the perfect debut from 1972. I also have to include Taylor Swift. While I adore everything she’s put out since 2020, my desert island pick is Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). It’s just an unbelievably diverse and endlessly entertaining record. Finally, since we’re talking island… I’d want a copy of the 1978 album Pacific featuring Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki and Tatsuro Yamashita. I think that record could put me in a good mood, even if I were literally marooned on an island.

Give us a mini-biography – where you were born, where you live now, what you may do outside of DJing.

I was born in Schenectady but grew up in Connecticut. I have been in the Hudson Valley since 2009. I came to school and stayed for the music scene. These days, I live just outside Kingston with my husband, DJ, who is a metal bassist, along with our canine daughter Razzy and often a foster dog. I’m also on air at WKZE and I’m working on my art portfolio and learning to tattoo. My true passion in life is skiing. It’s my lifeblood. I don’t want to make a career out of it – I’ve found that for me, I prefer “work” to be the thing I do to make enough money to do what really makes me happy, on my own terms, and that happens to be rescuing dogs and skiing. DJing weddings is a perfect gig for a ski bum because I’m busiest in the summer and fall and have all winter and early spring to focus on hucking myself down mountains as frequently as possible.

Follow MK @mk.ultramatic and catch her on March 8th at Dave Leonard’s Pisces Party at the Bearsville Theater and March 21st at the Eras Hangover Taylor Swift Dance Party and the Unicorn Bar in Kingston.