The Mix 108: Charlie Sparks

It’s been nonstop for Charlie Sparks over the past decade. “I didn’t know what a DJ was until I turned 18,” he tells us. Now aged 28, the London-born artist is one of the best-loved DJs and producers in his generation of techno-adjacent rave music specialists, dealing in a sound he sums up as “hard and happy”. 

His earliest interaction with electronic music came from seeing Jack Ü at Reading Festival, where he recalls “just looking at it like I had seen an alien. The lights, sound and energy was completely new to me.” Upon turning clubbing age, a first trip to fabric and seeing My Nu Leng was the starting point to properly understanding dance music and club culture. He was soon digging into the catalogues of labels such as Toolroom, RAM Records, Drumcode, Jungle Cakes and Set About. 

When it came to making his own music, he channeled those influences alongside inspiration from his studies in architecture and love for anime, forming an intense style that elicits powerful emotions. While there’s a precision-engineered element to his architectural approach, it leaves clubbers anything but cold, drawing the euphoria out of hard and fast frameworks. As someone who grew up between cultures in London and Tokyo, finding balance has always been an important part of his life. “Japanese culture taught me about respect and how to think about life and handle situations with reason and purpose,” he notes. “The London side gave me more grit and drive that I need to keep up in such a city.” 

As an artist, Charlie Sparks began to make a name for himself in 2019, releasing throbbing tracks on imprints such as Global Tribe and Finder Records and picking up DJ bookings around Europe. An industrious period of producing in lockdown saw many more releases land across the ensuing two years, as his sound got more playful and energetic, while still keeping its hard-edged focus on pushing the dancefloor into a frenzy. That approach is best epitomised by his biggest hit ‘Welcome To London’ on Tru Thoughts, which featured a mischievous vocal from Flowdan (“Welcome to London ya mug!”) within a palpitating beat, as well as his series of free-to-download edits of pop tracks like ‘Vogue’ by Madonna and Gwen Stefani’s ‘Hollaback Girl’, transforming them into relentlessly driving club fuel. Correspondingly as the world had reopened, his touring schedule went crazy, with relentless weekends of globe-trotting at esteemed clubs and festivals, including a Teletech residency.

A side effect of the flight-club-another-flight-another-club-after-party lifestyle, though, is producing music took a backseat for a while. The balance that had defined his life fell a little out of shape. That changed last year when he got his head down in the studio and began to evolve his sound again. Fruits of this labour landed in head-turning fashion in summer 2025 when he dropped ‘Back From The Baker’, featuring his own rap vocals with an emphasis on bassweight. “I really wanted to create a new sound, style and energy for you all,” he said at the time.

He’s now putting out his fullest artistic statement to date with debut album ‘Power Up’ coming out via ELEKTRA on May 29. The 10-track LP sees the label founder sounding refreshed and revitalised, released against a backdrop of personal struggles, the challenges of navigating a music career, and a reinvigorated thirst for artistic evolution. He’s feeling energised, as the accompanying mix attests to.

I think most people associate you with the hard and intense end of the music spectrum, though I read that you feel most drawn to “soft and warm energy” in art. How has this inclination led you to the type of music you’re immersed in, do you think?

I think the soft, warm energy is more directed to the feeling of happiness you get. The best way to describe my sound and music would be hard and happy. I always get told that people are smiling when they dance to my music and the atmosphere is filled with happiness and good vibes while keeping high energy through the intense aspect of the music 

Dropping ‘Back From The Baker’ last year, which featured your own rap vocals, will have taken some of your fanbase by surprise. Alongside sharing it you said: “I really wanted to create a new sound, style and energy for you all”. What inspirations and aims were fuelling that fresh direction in your music? 

It was influenced by the three different versions of me: the one before I got into music; the version where I was just a producer; and then the version now. I wanted to combine all those three into one. 

I wanted it to be fresh but stick to who I have been the whole time. Finding the right balance between them all to create this new version and direction in my music 

Relentless touring has been a feature of your career to this point, with an extended period where DJing took precedence over producing. Has your relationship with touring changed over time? And how does it feel to be tipping that balance back a bit and releasing your debut album ‘Power Up’?

Yes for sure, it’s now becoming a lot more balanced. The start of touring was crazy shows accompanied by some crazy parties every week. But you learn that if you’re going to survive doing this many shows the only way is to do it sober. It was the balance that was hard to achieve, but it allowed me to be able to focus on the production side of Charlie Sparks. 

Read this next: Why DJs and ravers are embracing sobriety

What made you feel that now is the time to release a long-form project and how has that format impacted upon the music you’ve made?

It has been about three years since I've been trying to get myself to the version where I am capable of creating an album. At the start I was learning to become a DJ and understanding what that actually means. There was a lot I needed to learn, sacrifice and achieve before I was able to be the version of myself that can go to the studio after a weekend of shows and be in the correct mental headspace to be creative. 

It’s allowed me to be more free for sure, it gave me room to just be me and create what I felt at the time. A real blank canvas. 

You’ve spoken about how your architectural studies have influenced your music career. I know you’re a big anime fan too, has this influenced your musical ventures? I can hear samples on ‘Bankai’.

I love it, it’s all I watch and for sure anime is my biggest influence in life for everything. The mentality you gain from being influenced by anime is the best in life. It was also my anime-sampling tracks that first gave me worldwide recognition, from ‘Kaizoku’ released on NINETIMESNINE and ‘Tatakai’ released on Amelie Lens’ label EXHALE. 

You've referenced a “four-year journey of battles I’ve faced, both within the music industry and my personal life” as shaping the album. If you’re comfortable speaking about it, what are some of the experiences you’ve been through that have had that effect, and how has this translated into the sounds explored? 

At first it’s the physical struggle you put your body through every week, from flying to playing to sleeping very little while taking about six flights a week. Slowly then it impacts you mentally and if you don’t have good people around you it can really get to you, and you can end in a deep hole. There were also family issues going on ever since I started touring which I won’t go into too much detail but it can get really ugly when the family is not such a happy family anymore. All of this motivated me to achieve more so I can support my brothers more when the time comes. 

I think all the change also changed the music I listened to, created and played. I used all of that and translated it into my new productions 

How do you cope with the pressure of a music career? 

Just don’t think about it! Seriously though, I think the only pressure you should put on yourself is to make sure you're doing the best you can, but never compare yourself to other artists, we are all on different journeys and at different paces. As long as you are trying your best and doing what you can, just believe in yourself  

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‘Power Up’ is coming out on your label ELEKTRA, how are you feeling about what you’re building there? What are the goals driving it? 

I’m feeling great, after three years of not making music I now have an album that’s the bridge to the next level. For me the album was a personal statement to show myself how far I have come, and it’s just me refining again my productions and music style so now I can look at it and learn which way I want to go, and narrow down my sound even more for the future 

How did you approach your mix?

I opened the set with a track that was a vital moment in my change in music style. It’s a UK-influenced track that has the new bouncy style I got influenced by when I started to tour worldwide. The whole set is energy-driven with a lot of tracks coming out on my label ELEKTRA, music by a lot of talented artists. 

Charlie Sparks’ debut album ‘Power Up’ comes out on May 29 via ELEKTRA, pre-order it here

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Editor & Digital Director, follow him on Instagram

Tracklist:
Charlie Sparks - EP Track 2
Roøney - Bass Is Pumping 
Charlie Sparks - Fight Club 
Charlie Sparks - Buddha 
GMOZ & Scythe - Xtra Power 
SALVAJE - Bouncy Town 
Charlie Sparks - Spiritual Power
KURA - Bounce Otra Vez 
Charlie Sparks - Rude Boy Selecta 
ULTIMO - Maximum Force 
Charlie Sparks - Power Up
Charlie Sparks - GO
Rabteu - Drop That 
Vorick - Rock My Body