Let's do a quick Hotpipes recap. New album, Dust, is coming May 7th. You can already watch an album teaser, an official video or download two songs from the full release.

Today, we're giving away two copies of the record. One is an extremely limited edition Test Pressing copy of the record and the other is the semi limited edition fully packaged LP. All you have to do to win is leave a comment on this post (with a valid email). I'll contact you at the end of the day if you won!

Update: Contest closed! I threw all the names into a Randomizer and picked the top two! Congratulations Pip and Michael.

There's not much to see over at Geeks Phone aside from a few screenshots but getting a glimpse at the forthcoming Firefox OS is worth a little browsing around. Okay, honestly, it's really just some home screens and you get very little from the site but I'm curious to start hearing more about it. Seems like they sold out fast.

Lately I've been trying out Pocket for all my "Read This Later" needs. It's been great but I hate it when these repositories fill up, so I'm hoping to tackle proper reading / watching of the following ASAP:

• Kim Gordon Sounds Off - profile + interview with Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon. It's touted as a "revealing" story about her relationship with Thurston Moore but, really, it just serves as a profile on a rather under recognized artist.
• Hacking the Law: Fights over Cyber-Security and the Silicon Valley Divide - whenever a lawmaker fights to reform "cyber" anything I am dubious but Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren seems to be fighting the good fight.
• How Companies Learn Your Secrets - apparently places like Target or Wal-Mart can track your purchases and predict when you're going to have a baby? Sounds outlandish but, for whatever reason, I believe it.
• Startup Grind 2013: Clayton Christensen interviews Mark Suster - it's a 30 minute talk but Suster has a lot of worthwhile things to say.

the first EP was pretty grand. This is sounding just as great thus far.

i still miss Cake Bake Betty

Tobacco of BMSR and Zackey Force Funk collab. Sounds like Tobacco but with less weird vocals. Jury still out.

don't miss out.

three15two

RainproDash

tarekeys

uh, yes. yes. yes.

Many years ago I was fortunate enough to meet a rather talented Dutch designer and illustrator by the name of Wijtze Valkema. He recently updated his portfolio and it's clear that his style and abilities have only improved over the years. There's an adorable vibe to some of it and melancholy to others. I've been a fan of his for some time and it's great to see so much new work that continues that tradition of goodness.

Typically, the ScoutMob blog isn't really a site that I consider a destination source for content worthy of investigating. However, this roundup of Nashville's Iconic Neon Signs is pretty undeniably great. I wish the images weren't so small but it's a nice collection.

These works from Milan artist Alberto Seveso are unbelievable. It's hard to look at these pieces and not automatically assume they were created entirely digitally instead of just with a high-speed camera and a healthy mixture of ink and water.

Be sure to steer by his portfolio to see the ink drops in use within various designs. They work quite well. There are some great unused shots too.

As it often happens on Tumblr, I stumbled across this image and was mystified but perplexed by the lack of attribution or credit or history behind it. A quick reverse image lookup and it turns out that the piece is from Andy Vible, an artist known for his life size sculptures partaking in activities that are often caught in ironic "self-referencing loops."

Whats' the most interesting to me is that the repeating television image - the b/w jpeg itself - probably isn't even a creation of Vible. Someone saw it, desaturated it and started circulating it. Since there was a mild change from the original is there an argument to be made for who is the artist or is that just getting ridiculous?

PIXELCREATION

I've only read a bit of this but I'm loving it so much that I'm willing to bet the entire thing is worthwhile

TopTenNow

Maim Ixed

My friend Catie Cameron is currently on the tail end of her Kickstarter to help raise funds to finish off her first novel, Ms. Rhythm and Blues - a fictional piece of work about music scenes and the role they play in our lives (a subject that certainly hits close to home).

I don't talk about it often enough on the site but I am a fan of books and think the challenges involved with writing a good one is definitely on par with a good album or movie - of which I write about plenty often. Unfortunately, being an author doesn't usually get the same level of support, despite being every bit as rewarding to partake in.

Long story short, I've backed the project and recommend you do as well. It feels good to help potentially get another quality book out into the world.