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If this were 10 years ago, this disc from Boston's The Operators would have fit right in to the Harriet Records catalog. It's reminiscent of a time when everyone had a copy of the Simple Machines Mechanics Guide and zines were xeroxed and stapled instead of blogged and FTP'd. There's a definite DIY ethic on display here, and the band's bio includes words like "collective" (as a noun), "activism," and "DIY craft fair," things we here at copacetic can definitely get behind. Musically The Operators have a couple of different directions going here, an intentional split personality between "the light" and "the dark," hence the album title. The first half of the album features brighter punk-pop sounds and occasionally lighthearted but always outspoken lyrics about the vagaries of the undergroundish lifestyle, like cruddy roommates who eat your peanut butter, make you watch The Hobbit, and whose "only friends are from a chatroom" ("Punch You Out"). Snap! The second half of the album is much more somber in tone, slowing to a more midtempo speed and lyrically taking a turn toward sadness, loneliness, and defeat. Kind of a manic-depressive album. Both "sides" of this album are equally well done, but I think I prefer the peppy, sassy side to The Operators over the Captain Bringdown side, not so much because it's not as much fun to be bummed out as because borderline despair just doesn't seem to fit a band with such a go-getter resume. (mike.06.05)
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