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It has been snowing in Bristol. Less so than everywhere else in the UK, but still enough to send the city into shutdown. I was strolling along an icy street, having just acquired Black Acre boss Ian's number, only to face-plant the pavement and break my phone.

Not wanting to resemble Frankenstein walking into the Chemical Records office, I decided it was best to put myself in quarantine and conduct an email interview. It seems I wasn't the only one suffering as Ian was stuck at home taking care of the family.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Black Acre Records, they are currently at the forefront of dubstep, not afraid of pushing new styles, and many a talent.

"2009 was a year of extremes. Seeing all of my artists start to get the acclaim I think they deserve was great," says Ian.

These talents include Blue Daisy, whose excellent Space Ex is personally one of my highlights of 2009, alongside Akira Kiteshi and Von D.

"I think that you'll hear proper ground-breaking albums from Blue Daisy and Akira Kiteshi this year, states Ian. "Both those guys have so much to offer, you really need to experience their music over the length of an album to get the full picture. I'd like to see either of those guys make that next ascent.

"I think Von D will continue to spread throughout dubstep like the Borg," he continues. "He adds such an original and much needed sexiness to the masculinity of the scene, only good things can happen for this man."

So from the outset of things, 2010 is looking like a great year for Black Acre, but what else can we expect? "I think early 2010 will see the long coming rise of Fantastic Mr. Fox, his new EP has started getting serious attention and his new music is super refined and focused, I heard they might make a film about him even! Other tips and Black Acre debuts include: Pariah, Raffertie, 1000names, Dark Sky, Loops Haunt and Michael Black Electro."

However, it seems that Ian might not be quite the next Nostradamus, with his other tip: "N-Type is going to replace Chris Moyles on the Radio 1 breakfast show, make it happen people!"

We can only hope.

So all in all, Black Acre are doing the rounds at the moment. Obviously then, there was a lot of motivation to set up the record label. "I was an artist myself for around 15 years and on my adventures I fell foul to a lot of industry shenanigans," Ian explains.

"Rather than allow the life experiences to fester into a sizable mental health issue I though I'd try and turn my knowledge to something useful. I wanted to build a genuinely artist centered business. To me it wasn't just about rinsing out products, but offering development and education. I wanted to empower the team with as much industry savvy as possible.

"Artists are cells of the body in your label, keep your cells well nourished you can be an Arnie, starve those cells and you get a cross between Danny Devito and Mr Burns..."

As you can see, Black Acre took a massive leap forward in 2009 with a plethora of releases. "I can't believe how much the label has evolved," says Ian. "I also faced some serious challenges and "industry unpleasantness" but I'm a tough old boot and as usual the support of some great friends saw Black Acre ascend to even higher grounds. Positive influence awards for 09 go to N-Type and the whole Chemical and Black Acre Fammo!"

Ian is a busy man what with running a record label, working at Chemical Records, as well as taking care of a family. Ian also worked as a hip-hop reviewer for this very magazine for a few years in the late 90s, so we talked briefly about what is was like to work for Knowledge.

"Colin the editor used to beat me with a ruler if my reviews late." No change there then. "Other than that it was the most free and creative I've ever been allowed to be as a writer. I used to run the hip hop reviews column with my friend and co-emcee Ben. I'm pretty sure Colin must've caught heat for some of our more creative "negative" reviews but he never asked us to change."

Ian had good memories of Kmag, but one particular review sticks in his mind: "One time Ben had to review a Mace & P Diddy single. Instead of writing actual words he did a step by step photographic guide in how to turn the record into an ashtray. Still can't believe Colin published it!"

All that's left to do is get Ian to describe their exclusive guest mix, here's what he had to say: "A trip through soul-boy country stopping at the psychedelic wonky-beat fields taking a sharp left after the robot porn sound track descending through the submariner's dubstepping abyss landing at our destination Castle Donnington circa 2092!"

Words: Joe Goldsworthy

Download the mix here

Tracklisting