Last night at 205 Chrystie, just after 1:00 am, Nirvana’s cheerleaders got an update during Ebony Bones’ set, as one of the coolest singers and the two most awesome back-up vocalists went through alternately joyous and solemn dances in the spirit of “a small village in Africa,” per lead singer Ebony’s quip. And while their garb is tribal, they are far more steeped in subculture—namely that great tradition of conceptual British art-pop informed by a societal, political, and historical consciousness, and expressed by the Bones crew to an, at-times harrowing, and often rapturous and delirious pitch. During one moment, the back-up singers vamped with a boppy, New Wave dolly coo, asked a question pondered since time immemorial by thinkers like Morrissey, Eldridge Cleaver, et. al: Why do we smile at the people that we hate the most?

If Ms. Bones’ alarmed …