Album: Chinese Football – Chinese Football
Pressing: DK139, Dog Knights Productions, 180g with Gatefold
Color: White A/B, Black C/D
Chinese Football’s self-titled debut album was one of my favorites in the 2010s so I’m extremely grateful that they decided to do a repress for 2020. The original vinyl pressing appeared through Weary Bird Records in China and was limited to 150 copies. Selling out rather quickly, they ended up on Discogs with a very hefty price. Thankfully, UK-based independent record label Dog Knights Productions teamed up with Chinese Football to release pressings of the most popular entries in their discography. There were two other pressings with pinwheel and splatter options but they sold out fairly quickly so I grabbed the regular black/white pressing instead.
The presentation of the record is executed well as its original black and white color gets a splash of teal in the gatefold. The gatefold design features cute illustrations from the artist 史悲 who is responsible for the band’s cover art over the years. The A/B side of the record is white and the C/D side of the record is black which seems to reflect the colors of a soccer ball. This pressing is pretty much identical to the original 2017 pressing and as expected for a band from Wuhan, everything is written in Mandarin.
There’s also a double-sided full-color insert that details the song information, credits, band members, lyrics, and more. It’s all housed in a sturdy 350gsm gatefold jacket together with the records. In terms of quality, the sound is fantastic and there isn’t any distortion, surface noise, or skipping that’s noticeable when playing the album. Unfortunately, the design of the sleeve was a little tight compared to standard 12-inch LPs and it’s a little difficult to pry the inner sleeves out. The problem seems to be with the middle seam in the gatefold since it’s fairly loose and the corners of the inner sleeves or insert get caught and bent real easily. It’s not the end of the world but it is kind of annoying to have to slide in the sleeves perfectly before folding the gatefold again.
Apart from that small design flaw, however, the quality of the pressing is very good and makes a nice entry into any collection. There’s not too much difference between headphones and speakers in terms of surface noise and the records were surprisingly dust-free when I first opened it up. All in all, the Dog Knights Productions pressing of Chinese Football’s debut album is fantastic and well worth the waiting it took for a new repress.
