(Originally Published on The Huffington Post on 10/26/2012)

On the heels of performing at the Chanel spring/summer 2013 fashion show in Paris and the Fashion Moments 2012 party in Shanghai, and with yet another tour in Europe, the Pitchfork Music Festival in Paris, the Harvest Festival in Australia, Art Basel in Miami and a few other upcoming dates in South America, indie-electronic darlings (and Portland, Oregon hometown heroes) Chromatics are smack dab in the midst of an international meteoric rise.

With their latest release, Kill for Love, Chromatics frontwoman, Ruth Radelet, has once again hypnotized fans, critics and even Karl Lagerfeld with her voice, stage presence and stunning beauty. I had a chance to catch up with my dear, talented friend Ruth this past week. Our conversation is below.

Watch Chromatics “Kill for Love” Video:

Ruth, thanks for chatting with me today. For some of our readers who are just hearing your band Chromatics now, how would you describe your sound?
This is always a tough question for me, since our songs range from almost fully electronic numbers to guitar-oriented post punk and 10-minute long cinematic experimentations. If I had to sum it up in a phrase I might say something like “melancholy electronic pop.”

It’s been an eventful last couple of years for you guys. Was there a specific moment where you realized something really big was happening?
We all really believed in Kill for Love, but, of course, you never know for sure how the public will receive something. We had some great feedback from the press but none of that seems real until you Read the rest of this entry »

Note: My monthly column for Just Out Magazine “In The Trenches” was published today in the October issue. The piece is called “The Curse of Being Old Fashioned” and is about accepting all types of relationships. Unfortunately, the last 2 (very important) paragraphs were accidentally left out of the print version (something that has been making me CRAZY for days, and I’m sure will continue to all month) but the online version is complete. You can check out the original by clicking the cover image below, or just keep reading below.

In The Trenches: “The Curse of Being Old-Fashioned”

Let me start by saying I believe everyone should have the right to love whoever they please, however they please. My choice to love monogamously, and my sharing my thoughts around said loving with you all, is not meant to diminish your thoughts and choices, but rather to offer up yet another queer voice on the matter. I am not making a case for monogamy with this article, but rather a case for acceptance.

In recent days I’ve been reading a lot of articles about love, commitment, and the “M” word, followed by discussions with my fellow queers about said articles, and it’s left me feeling frustrated. I can’t help but wonder, at what point in our queer cultural development did it become acceptable to imply (or say outright) that a person or couple who chooses to be in a monogamous relationship is somehow less evolved than those who do not? I have encountered this view before in my previous dating misadventures, friendships, and relationships … as though my wanting to be with only one man for the rest of my life is buying into a “heteronormative” idea about love and, in so doing, is somehow oppressing you in yours.

It has been my experience that being what some would consider “old fashioned” feels, at times, a bit like a curse for an out, gay man. I have never had anonymous sex. I have never hooked up with anyone off of Craigslist. I have an iPhone but I am not on Grindr or Scruff or Manhunt or whatever other sites people use these days to populate their casual sex lives. In fact, I have never had a very casual sex life. It has always been tied to relationship or a longing for deep connection. My being this way has made it difficult for me to relate to the experience of many of my queer peers, and almost impossible for them to relate to me.

I don’t believe being monogamously in love is the Read the rest of this entry »