Jonathan And BPro @ Larimer Lounge

On Aug. 26, Jonathan And BPro transformed the stage of the Larimer Lounge from a grungy rock club into a stylish dance party. Think melodic electro-pop like La Roux with male vocals or Sam Sparro's Black And Gold.

The duo, made up of singer Jonathan Nelson and keyboardist/music producer Billy Prohaska, have been playing together for close to two years. They finally released their first self-titled album to a receptive crowd.

Boys opened the show. They are the newest project for former Speakeasy Tiger front woman Kyle Simmons and Life In Electric guitarist Ross Ryan. Boys is a much harder-edged, guitar-driven rock band than we've seen from either Simmons or Ryan, whose previous bands focused more on synthesizers and dance beats. But the two have a clear on-stage chemistry and Boys may prove to be a better match for Simmons' signature powerhouse vocals and emotionally charged lyrics.

Jonathan And BPro got the moderately sized, but enthusiastic crowd dancing as soon as they took the stage. Along with their brand of modern electro-pop, they bring an extensive light show, complete with custom-made light boards and a video screen. "We're very conceptual with our shows," BPro said. "Our visual aspect is just as important as the music." For their live shows, they've also added drummer Adam Gilder.

Their song "Hands Up" got the crowd jumping to the beat with their hands in the air. And later, a "technical difficulty" resulted from Jonathan unplugging BPro's rig with an overly enthusiastic dance move. After an exclamation of "oh shit," Jonathan kept the crowd engaged while BPro scrambled to get the music up and running again.

Jonathan had several flamboyant costume changes throughout the show, including a collar of giant fuzzy dice with a spiked eye patch, as well as a pair of bright orange coveralls. His charismatic exuberance and energetic stage presence along with his foot-tall hair made him difficult to ignore. At one point in the show, his dancing inspired an enthusiastic crowd member to stick a dollar in his pants.

BPro, on the other hand, had a more understated and mysterious stage persona. He wore a black suit jacket and silver bowtie. His long blond hair fell over his dark sunglasses while he quietly bobbed his head behind his rig of keyboards and computer screens.

Jonathan and BPro may not write songs of great lyrical depth or introspection, but they don't really have to. Their goal is to show people a good time and put on an incredibly interesting visual show. They write dance songs intended for a club atmosphere, which, to their credit, translate surprisingly well to a live setting.