Koutei Camera Girl Drei -- Toronto Lot

Over a couple of years ago, I mentioned that there was a monthly free magazine called "Bento Box" which gives a local report on all of the Japanese eateries in the Greater Toronto Area along with some extra articles on Japanese culture and tourism. Once in a while, though, there is also an article on "Next Music From Tokyo", an annual tour through Canada introducing some of the more dynamic indie and underground music acts from Japan. For that article, I wrote about Maison book girl, an aidoru group that formed around a former member of BiS, Megumi Koshoji（コショージメグミ）.

Well, in the May 2019 issue, "Next Music From Tokyo Vol. 14" was advertised and had its run in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal between May 15th and May 20th this year. I was taking a look at the lineup and saw this group called Koutei Camera Girl Drei（校庭カメラガールドライ...Schoolyard Camera Girl III）. Allow me to lift the actual description from "Bento Box":

Koutei Camera Girl Drei (KGCD) is an idol group of three female emcees who rap over incredibly well-crafted electronic dance instrumentals. Recent songs have incorporated the vocal styling and rhythms of dancehall reggae. The sophistication and unusually high quality of KCGD's music should appeal to fans of Yasutaka Nakata and Perfume.

There is also an even more detailed description of their history at the "Next Music From Tokyo" website here, but as you can see from the translation of their band name, this is the third incarnation for Koutei Camera Girl with the trio consisting of catch my heart, pacio to 'npa and new member warwar toome. One other fascinating tidbit of information is that KGCD made their debut on the planet right in the place of my birth, Toronto, in October 2017 during Volume 11 of the Canada-wide tour, and this was only a couple of months following final auditions and solidification of the original KGCD lineup.

In February 2018, KGCD released a single called "Girlz Can't / Toronto Lot". "Toronto Lot" starts off with a minute of a pensive tone while one of the three women states her desire to become an ever beautiful star. Then the beats come percolating in with the team going into rapid rap mode. I'm on the fence from just this song whether this would draw in Perfume fans, but for me, although I'm neither a rap enthusiast nor a fan of the really deep techno stuff, there is something about the speed and relentlessness of "Toronto Lot" that has had me sticking around while the song is playing for its 6 minutes and change.

The video here by uploader Tease Tarou（手汗太郎）is of KCGD's concert in Nishi-Azabu, a pretty tony area of Tokyo, in early 2018 before "Toronto Lot" was officially released. Two of the members up in the video have since left the group: blonde ramy t talata and sappy halloween. Personally, I would like to know how they got their stage names.

Go Raptors!