Charlie Sparks goes long: debut album 'Power Up' lands on his own ELEKTRA

Hard techno's loudest new generation has mostly lived on singles: weapons built for one peak moment, released fast, burned through faster. Charlie Sparks just made the format grow up. 'Power Up', his debut album, arrived May 29 on ELEKTRA, the label he launched in 2024 to control his own music and creative direction.

The rollout was patient by scene standards. Announced March 6 alongside the title track, the album shipped seven singles before release day, including 'Bankai', 'GO' and 'Fight Club'. Across ten tracks the palette stretches well past the genre's center: stripped-back techno under acid pressure, psy-driven momentum, jungle and breaks detours, rave stabs, and MC vocals that run the room.

Sparks has been unusually open about the years underneath the record. "The album is a testament to the four-year journey of battles I've faced," he said around the release, describing a stretch where hitting bottom personally pushed the music somewhere more honest. The press lap told the same story: a Mixmag Mix 108 feature on rediscovering balance, a METAL Magazine interview about producing from the heart.

The timing is right too. With a Junction 2 Festival 2026 headline slot in London alongside I Hate Models already booked, 'Power Up' reads less like a victory lap and more like a statement of intent: the UK's hard techno breakout is planning to stay.