"King Baldwin... effortless manipulate rock and Afrobeat rhythms into music that somehow retains a pop sensibility... simply sensational"
- Jen Verzosa, Examiner.com
"Beautiful and deviously twisted pop tunes that will nest in your brain"
- 5ScorePachyderm.com
"Incredible vocal harmonies... A joy to watch"
- BayAreaBourge.com
"Virtuoso chops... hauntingly beautiful"
- Erikka Innes, Examiner.com
What/Who Is King Baldwin?
In literal terms, King Baldwin was a leper and king of Jerusalem in the twelfth century. It is also the name of a musician and the erstwhile name of the band named after him. This page is for the second one of those things. Here is a picture of the first, as portrayed by Edward Norton in a movie:
Fig 1: Edward Norton, not us
The 'King Baldwin' with whom are concerned is an Eastern European duke who insists on being called "king," lives in a castle, loves David Bowie, and is completely out of touch with reality. King Baldwin writes melodic, intelligent, and hypnotic original music for a band called Dubious Ranger. He has an agreement with the band in which he is not credited is a songwriter. Their website is www.dubiousranger.com. That url would be a link if King Baldwin knew basic html functions, which he does not, and as he is staring over my shoulder as I write this, he has insisted that I leave it as is.
King Baldwin is best known as a minor youtube celebrity (through The Nothing Room channel) who records classical piano covers of video game themes and, occasionally, movie themes or popular songs. He also on occasion creates comedy videos that function as a sort of news-of-the-day social commentary. Some days, truth be told, are months long.
Three albums were released under the 'King Baldwin' name: a self-titled EP, a second EP titled "Castle of Love," and a full-length release called "Music For Unsafe Sex." Those albums now exist under an umbrella of "Dubious Ranger presents" and are accessible through the Dubious Ranger webpage. That leaves this site exclusively for King Baldwin, which, given how confusing everything already is, makes things somewhat less so.
