Margaret Cho: Cho Dependent

Margaret Cho: Cho Dependent
What hasn’t Margaret Cho attempted to do? I remember watching her short lived TV show, All American Girl in 1994. Of course at that point I was ten so a lot of the humor probably went over my head, but I remember liking it. She is mostly known for her stand-up but she has also written and produced films, live theatre, and even started a fashion line. But now she is trying something a little different. Although she has released CDs previously, most have been live comedy albums. Cho Dependent is her first foray into music. Cho enlists the help of famous friends to create an album full of humorous lyrics that also has serious musical value.
The album’s opening track “Intervention” features and was co-written Tegan and Sara. The track features Tegan and Sara’s traditional guitar strumming and extra poppy harmonies backing Cho’s lead vocals. The twee pop music just serve as a backdrop to Cho’s comedy. The track’s lyrics are humorous but not goofy like Weird Al or over-the-top like Stephen Lynch. Not to say that Cho does not go over-the-top on some of the album’s tracks.
The track “Your Dick” was co-written with AC Newman and features Ben Lee. The track is undeniably poppy but features graphic lyrics like “if it was an armed force, I would have enlisted/You pull yourself out of me and it’s like I got fisted”.
Musically my favorite song is “Asian Adjacent”. The track was co-written with Grant Lee Phillips. The track has a Leonard Cohen‘s “Everybody Knows” feel to it while Cho sings about her favorite subject, being Asian.
In the end, Cho has said that her goal was to “create a new genre of music that is hilarious but [is] also seriously good”. I have to say she accomplished this. Although sometimes the music is so poppy that it is easy to overlook the lyrics, in generally Cho is very funny on the album but still manages to make something that could be played on any college radio station during an indie rock show.
Rating: 7.2/10
MP3: Margaret Cho featuring Tegan and Sara “Intervention”
Buy: iTunes or Insound!

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