Posted by Katherine St Asaph on 06/25/2012 at 11:08 AM Videos

The Popdust Files: azealia banks, florence and the machine, hackney weekend, rihanna

Ah, Hackney, that never-ending British fount of videos. (We hear it’s a festival, too, across the pond.) The full lineup’s online, and YouTube’s flooded with videos of everything there. In the interest of not crashing your browser, though, we’ve chosen a few highlights.

RIHANNA
Specifically, Rihanna and a sphinx. Did you know a Sphinx Remix of “Only Girl (in the World)” exists? Of course you didn’t, because it’s a SoundCloud file nobody would have a reason to stumble upon until now.

AZEALIA BANKS
“The following performance contains the strongest possible language from the outset and throughout.” That it does, disclaimer. That it does. (More on “212″ and this weekend.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw4BLQAatE4

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE
Check out the crowd surfer at 2:25. If she was in a Florence video, she’d just be straight-up levitating.

LANA DEL REY
In the U.K., her fans actually do outnumber her ironic fans, to the point where she might as well be a British act.. “Video Games” is a sedate number, so recorded it’s full of shots of fans in various states of swooning and/or weeping. Well. Mostly. What is that man doing at 0:57?

DAVID GUETTA
Has anybody ever mined crowd reactions from dance concerts for GIFs? Seems like a thing that could be done. (We’re not talking about David Guetta’s contribution because come on. It is a David Guetta appearance. You can visualize his exact facial expression and movements without watching the video; this is all about the crowd.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esp9nj0WUa0

MAGNETIC MAN
Because we wanted to balance out the Guetta, in this post and in general. (You know “Perfect Stranger,” the best song on Katy B’s album? They did it.)