“Drop Me Off In Denpasar” started out as a bunch of piano exercises I wrote for myself to develop my finger independence for piano.

The idea was to have each finger play a different rhythm separately as a drummer’s arms and legs do between kick, snare, cymbal, etc…As I became more comfortable with them, I slowly started playing the patterns together and it became a piece of music rather than (hopefully) just "finger-wanking."

The title references the capital of Bali, where I was soon to be leaving to study gamelan for the summer in Bali.

Musicians on this (4-track) recording are:

Ches Smith – drums
Dan Ake – homemade percussion
Pete Martin – piano and overdubbed gasang
Bianca Austin – percussion & second piano on the intro

Hope you like.
- Pete Martin

Reviews

Active since 2000 and led by Peter Martin, Eddie The Rat is an avantgarde music collective that has been featured on Negativland's Seeland label and is now at its fourth release. "Drop me off at Denpasar" is a 5-part composition lasting about 17 minutes, influenced by Balinese gamelan structures but with a strange ironical twist. Martin states that the piece originally took form from a series of exercises he wrote for his finger independence; he then glued some of them together in order to create a "real" score. Two pianos, drums and homemade percussion (played by Martin, Ches Smith, Dan Ake and Bianca Austin) constitute the skeleton of a lovely mixture of intersecting patterns and repetitive rhythms which sound like a small orchestra of puppets playing tiny instruments with enthusiastic sapience. Strange, curious, enjoyable music in every aspect. — Massimo Ricci's Touching Extremes

Peter Martin is the man behind Eddie The Rat, here a four piece band that are named after a real living rodent. I'd say here a four piece, because they have a fluctuating membership of up to twelve musicians. Peter Martin is the main composer and there are releases on Negativland's Sealand label and on Entartete Kunst. Here five parts of 'Drop Me Off In Denpasar' (which is the capital of Bali) which Martin wrote as a finger studio while playing the piano. A bit like a drummer would use his arms and legs to create a rhythm. The pieces were laid down on four track, with the help of a drummer, percussion players and a second piano. The 'Denpasar' reference is not just a reference for the sake of it, but throughout these five pieces, one gets the idea of listening to Gamelan like music, although it's less flowing and a bit more hooky. These Gamelan like pieces are at the end, the first two a bit jazzy, but with a very nice twist to it, making it not entirely jazz, but still quite groovy. Personally the third and fourth track are my favorite, with the gamelan influences and in the fourth piece there also seems to be some electronic sounds, or something that imitates an electronic sound. That for me was the best track of the lot, but the others were pretty pleasant too. Nice one. (FdW) — Vital Weekly, listen to the podcast

The concept of the pieces here is to use the piano as a drummer uses the set. Head Rat Pete Martin put these pieces together as an exercise, but they do work outside of that context. And since the songs themselves wander through all sorts of ideas and moods, the feel is exuberant, not clinical. Another fine outing by Martin and pals.
— Jon Worley, Aiding & Abetting

Balinese gamelan-inspired polyrhythmic piano exrcises accompanied by percussion. Sounds great! This work hones in on the best qualities of Eddie the Rat. All too short, though (one piece, 17:41, split into five parts). - Breakthrough in Grey Room, KUSF 90.3FM, San Francisco