Turpsycore is a triple album dedicated to music's "so-called 'eccentrics'." Two out of three of discs are cover versions of David Bowie and Magazine/the BuzzcocksHoward Devoto. The song "Ultra-Loyal Sheepdog" began as a Tumblr post in March 2014 when the musician wrote a biography on one of the characters in Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's "Mottai Night Land" video. The title is a deliberate misspelling of Terpsichore, the muse for joy and dance in Greek mythology. Likewise, the name is a nod to turpentine and. Also relating to Greek mythology, Momus is the god of mockery and blame. The color palette is a reference to Greece's polychrome technique. His later album Glyptothek was published in the same year. Songs from Turpsycore and from other 2000s albums Bambi, Bibliotek, and Glyptothek were recollected in the Cherry Red Records anthology Public Intellectual.
Production
The content of the first disc was originally published by Sony Music Japan. The second and third discs of Turpsycore were recorded at the "cabaret concerts" in London's Cafe Otoin September 2014. The cover is designed by Hagen Verleger. It was nominated by the German Design Council for the German Design Award.
Reception
's Cube Microplex staff called Turpsycore "a triple disc spectacular." The Japan Timess Devon Fisher commented " pays proper tribute to the artists — some famous, some less so — who, like him in his Shibuya-kei days, brought a more literate, worldly and bizarre perspective to the realm of popular culture, refusing to stagnate or get 'over-familiar and over-sold.'" Zittys Thorsten Glotzmann said it was "thoroughly enigmatic and bizarre - overloaded with literary, film-historical and pop-cultural references." Heathen Harvest staff reviewed it favorably stating "A good Momus album plus a two bonus discs of off-kilter covers of David Bowie and Howard Devoto songs. What’s not to like about it?" PopMatterss Dave Heaton remarked the album was "a truly eccentric three-disc set." CDMs Peter Kirn called the Bowie disc "unsurprising" but the Devoto covers "were just what I needed – a set of songs tackling sexual ambiguity and anxiety from a singer who was born to play the part."
