Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam is the debut album of British singer and electronic producer Ghostpoet

Ghostpoet

Ghostpoet is a British singer and producer.In June 2010, Ghostpoet released his first EP The Sound Of Strangers on Brownswood Recordings and was later featured in The Guardian’s “New Band Of The Day”....

. It was released worldwide on 4 February 2011 on Gilles Peterson

Gilles Peterson

Gilles Peterson , is a DJ, record collector and record label owner from London, UK. Through his labels Acid Jazz, Talkin' Loud, and latterly Brownswood Recordings, he has been associated with the careers of well-known artists of the 1990s such as Erykah Badu, Roni Size and Jamiroquai...

's label Brownswood Recordings

Brownswood Recordings

Brownswood Recordings is a London-based independent record label launched in 2006 by DJ Gilles Peterson.-Artists include:* Ben Westbeech.* The Heritage Orchestra.* Soil & "Pimp" Sessions.* José James.* Gilles Peterson.* Elan Mehler.* Ghostpoet....

. The album was shortlisted for the 2011 Mercury Prize

Mercury Prize

The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize and currently known as the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established by the British Phonographic Industry and British...

, but lost to Let England Shake

Let England Shake

Let England Shake is the tenth studio album by PJ Harvey, released on 11 February 2011 in the UK. Work on it began around the time of White Chalks release in 2007, though it is a departure from the piano-driven introspection of that album. The album was written over a period of two-and-a-half...

by PJ Harvey

PJ Harvey

Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...

.

The Instrumental from "Finished I Ain't" was used on the advert for 2011 Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 drama Top Boy

Top Boy

Top Boy is a British television drama series, which was first broadcast on Channel 4. The four episodes were broadcast over consecutive nights, from 31 October to 3 November 2011. Set on the fictional Summerhouse housing estate in Hackney, North London, the series follows the lives of a group of...

, which following residents of a housing estate in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and their turn to drug dealing

Illegal drug trade

The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...

 and gang culture

Gang

A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...

.

Background

The album was recorded at the Redbull Music Academy studios and The Brownswood Basement in 2010. All songs were written and produced by Ghostpoet.

Reception

Upon its release, Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam received generally good reviews from music critics. The website Metacritic gives the album an aggregated score of 78/100 while, as of July 2011 Amazon ranks it at 18 in their list of the top 50 most acclaimed albums of the year so far. Most reviews, both positive and negative, emphasized the engaging nature of the music; Zachary Houle of Pop Matters praised the sound for being "compelling in its own audacity." Adam Kennedy of the BBC stated that "rarely does a British debut album forge such a fully formed, genuinely unique direction", adding, that the album "throws its headgear into the ring as an early contender for 2011's finest out-of-leftfield long-players".
Some reviews were more mixed, however; American magazine CMJ noted the challenging nature of the music, saying that the songs "barely step out of the realm of down-tempo trip-hop genre pioneered by his countrymen Massive Attack," but added that, "Ghostpoet shows that he is close to mastering it."

Track listing

All songs written and produced by Ghostpoet

• Note: Some editions of the album combine 'Onetwos' with 'Run Run Run', and 'Longing For The Night' with 'Yeah Pause' respectively.