Goddamnit! My new favorite band, Esben and the Witch, have canceled their debut Portland performance tonight due to being "stuck in the snow." Someone better dig them out. Unless "snow" is code for drugs. In that case, awesome.

Anyway, here is what I wrote about the band in this week's paper.

ESBEN AND THE WITCH, JULIANNA BARWICK, LOST LOCKETS
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) When the dust finally settled and the final tallboy of Lone Star was polished off, I saw nearly 50 bands at SXSW. Of all those performers—ranging from crowded Pitchfork parties to bands in half-empty clubs—not a single act could come close to Esben and the Witch. Recent additions to the Matador Records roster, the Brighton, England, trio is unassuming in stature offstage—like a group of pasty art-school dropouts, or the benchwarmers for their Quidditch team—but under the lights their ferocity was impossible to ignore. Possessing the raw fury of PJ Harvey's Rid of Me with a hearty dose of nü-goth as well, the band delivers a spirited performance that'll drive the very air from your lungs. Their debut LP, Violet Cries, can't quite capture their impassioned live performance, but don't miss out on catching them in their finest setting: onstage, right in front of your very eyes. I promise, you will not be disappointed. EZRA ACE CARAEFF

Memorize every word of that review for when the band reschedules.

End Hits: Also canceled, all re-runs of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.