This was a split I got quite a while back, and had the 7'' counterpart a while before that. But only recently (well the last couple of years) have I started really digging The Saddest Landscape, so I'll be dragging out a release or two by them and seeing what shakes loose in the next few weeks, probably.
This is the Pianos Become the Teeth/ The Saddest Landscape split. I had known of the Topshelf release and got the 7'' from there as I was/ am into Pianos Become the Teeth in a big way. But a few months later, this was offered to me from Darren over at Dog Knights. I had never heard of it, and was into the PBTT enough to warrant a second copy if it was a little different. I paid up, and this arrived.
Considering this was a few years ago, I was really intrigued by the format of the release. It's a 9'' Single Sided record with an etched b-side (we'll get to that in a bit). The only 9'' records I had known of at the time was the stream of Nine Inch Nails singles that came out, so having this (kind of) obscure format was something new.
I am always into the cover art for Pianos Become the Teeth releases, they seem to catch a particular mood depending on what it happening musically at the time. The 7'' opens up in the same manner, but the colour scheme is a little different. I might do a quick post on the 7'' variant just for a comparison.
The inside cover folds out with lyrics, thank you's and other bits. I like that both bands thank each other. I love split releases, but when the bands are into each other's music too I guess it makes it a far better process. I sometimes forget that The Saddest Landscape are somewhat veterans of the whole screamo thing having been around for over a decade (well aside from the little hiatus in the middle but let's not get into that).
On to the B-Side. It's etched. Again, a few years I had very few etched/ screened B-Sides so this was very cool. Still probably one of the most impressive etchings for me, as it made such an impact to me back in the day. Also, I have a lot to thank for this release being etched as it's what got me into The Saddest Landscape esentially. The tracks are both on side A, and play back to back with TSL being first. I ended up spinning that TSL track ('Death Becomes Us') so much to get to New Normal by Pianos, that I fell in love with it. It took a little of getting past the vocals, but it's now a great listen and opened me up to a band i'm now really fond of. I think if I had stuck with the 7'' I would have disregarded the A Side completely after a couple of casual listens. Loser.
Lastly this weird insert was in the sleeve when it arrived. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with anything regarding this release. I don't know if the label (Just Say No records) put it in, or Darren did at the time of packing and I never bothered to ask. I guess it's probably a hassle to find dust covers for 9'' records, and as it was in a poly sleeve anyway this could have been put in to protect the etching? I don't know. It's still in there either way.
I look back at this release with really fond memories. I had always bought records, but this came along at a time when I was finally starting to open my eyes to the whole collecting world. It's not the rarest record out there, it's not rare at all. If I had that /100 Glow in the Dark variant with the poster/ pin set it might be a different story. But i'm happy with this one right here.
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