Sonya Stockton, a visual artist, finds inspiration from books, thrift stores, and sometimes in the edgiest corners of emotion.  She’s showing a series of figure drawings at The Vera Project this month [Opening reception Feb. 8 @6p].  Loose and wildly expressive, her series “Instinctual” offers a peek at the unyielding energy underlying Sonya’s art.  Vera recently caught up with Sonya to learn about her days as an art student and what projects she’s focusing on lately.  Her show is on view at The Vera Project Gallery from Feb 7-Mar 7 2012.

GRAMMY CAMP: Basic Training aims to create an exclusive experiential learning day matching some of the top high school-aged musical talent with established music industry professionals. It will explore where these students are now (through hands-on music workshops and critiques) and inspire their future direction.

Long Island, New York-based indie pop quintet Twin Sister make music that is dreamy, yet danceable. The five members of the group—vocalist Andrea Estella, bassist Gabe D’Amico, drummer Bryan Ujueta, keyboardist Dev “Udbhav” Gupta, and guitarist (sometimes vocalist) Eric Cardona—crossed paths while playing in their respective bands, ultimately befriending each other and forming Twin Sister in 2008.

Doldrums is a musical venture produced by Canadian artist Eric Woodhead. As a part of a larger community reacting to overhype, the plasticity of modern youth culture and it’s ultimately alienating nature, his music deals with the loss of the individual in an increasingly altruistic society. Doldrums’ music reflects this societal change on a personal level, as a member of the last generation to remember life pre-internet and 24 hour status updates. His androgynous voice comes across mid-panic attack, floating in a sea of chopped up samples, disembodied vocals and tribal percussion. Spearing between electro-hallucinogenic freak outs and languid nostalgia, his tracks somehow manage to elevate classic pop melodies above a sample saturated sound collage.