My name is Youan and I made CloudBuster Radio. 

Bio

Born: once, so far

Lived: Mostly south west UK

Studied: I have a degree in Creative Music Technology and I also went to school.

Fascinations: Thank you for asking, there have been many over the years. Music and Sound are the consistent ones. 19th Century Whaling, Vampires, Professional Bicycle Races, Books about Professional Bicycle Races, Sanremo Music Festival, Italian Adult Pop, Gardening, Woodwork, Roleplaying Games. All these things and more pulled me around and shaped me and accepted my complete attention for some time.

I played drums in a number of bands across the south west, and was a Sound Designer for independent film and released music under the name YG Mitchell here. I have a strong sense of justice and a beard. Neither is as much my choice as you’d think.

Radio has inspired me since childhood.
When you’re isolated, radio is welcoming.
When you’re sleepy, radio cozys up with you.
When you’re not sleepy, radio stays up with you.

I have forever been drawn to the alternative in every sense. The outsider looking in, the empowered marking their own map, the aloof and the rejected. 

For a long time I was convinced of the virtue of nonconformity, as if its expression demonstrated a level of critical understanding of culture unavailable to the masses. I think that was pretty self-centred as a thought process – it certainly can be true but not exclusively. It more served to justify my place in the world and the lens through which I understood culture.  

I have been cynical, critical, and understood The Alternative from that framing, but so I have also seen the untethered joy and hope that building an alternative brings, and the belonging that we feel. These traits are not particular to any one subculture, hobby or alternative. They are part of the definition of each one.

I now believe The Alternative to be a necessary counterpart in our culture. It carries the potential to demonstrate a greater question at play – what if the accepted path we are taking was not the only one?

And this is where Alternative Culture and Community Realism intersect. Without preaching, without strongarming, we are providing the resources needed to ask that question about our position, our ability to affect change.