3D Schröder Staircase Wins 2020 Illusion of the Year Contest

The 16th annual Best Illusion of the Year Contest, hosted by the Neural Correlate Society, crowned a 2020 first prize winner this week. Japanese mathematician Kokichi Sugihara’s 3D Schröder Staircase wowed judges with its ingenuity. The Schröder Staircase (aka Schröder’s Stairs) is typically done in 2D on paper with ink or pencil, but Sugihara deciphered a way to render the illusion in real life and …

DARKSIDE: Liberty Bell

Electronic duo Darkside—aka Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington—will be releasing Spiral in 2021, their first album together since Psychic came out seven years ago. From it comes the dark, downtempo “Liberty Bell,” which blends jangly, twangy elements with atmospheric electronic, tinges of psychedelia and Jaar’s mellow vocals.

MF DOOM: Lunch Break

A new song on the FlyLo FM station featured in the updated Grand Theft Auto V, “Lunch Break” opens with MF DOOM’s inimitable voice over a beat by Flying Lotus (aka Steven Ellison, founder of Brainfeeder). The laidback tune is accompanied on the station by music from Dilla, Thundercat, Freddie Gibbs, Shabazz Palaces and Channel Tres.