Party Time: Sometimes girls want to have...

Party Time: Sometimes girls want to have food, sometimes they just gotta dance. That appeared to be the operative philosophy at the Troubadour on Thursday, where Cibo Matto--the duo of New York-based Japanese women Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda--downplayed its atmospheric, sample-heavy sounds and its lyrical preoccupation with things to eat in favor of a stomping, rocking mix of punk-inflected hip-hop and funk.

Eschewing the surreal charms of “Viva! La Woman”--the 1996 album that made the women in Cibo Matto cult heroines--the show was less distinctive than it might have been. But, throwing a party instead of a sit-down dinner was probably the best way to tap the energy of the packed and enthusiastic dance-floor crowd.

After two songs alone in their more familiar mode, Hatori and Honda were joined by their rhythm section--drummer Timo Ellis and bassist Sean Ono Lennon (the son of John and Yoko has said that this kind of supporting role with a group of friends is just what he wants). From that point on it was a lively, if uneven, celebration, sparked by the earnest, punk-spirited amateurishness of Hatori’s vocals and tempered by an occasional offbeat moment, such as an eerie reading of “Moon River.”