"Abandon" (French Kicks)

I hate to admit it.  But it kind of makes me glad when bands that should make it big only gain a cult following or remain local stars.  It's like knowing about a fantastic restaurant in a shitty location: there's a selfish joy in knowing you can always walk right in and get a table anytime, but at the same time, you are keenly aware that, unless you start telling people about the place, it's probably doomed.
I feel that way about the band French Kicks--a former indie rock quartet that was based in (where else?) Brooklyn.  I first heard them on college radio in Raleigh, NC, and then only once again after that while having dinner at a Chipotle in Chapel Hill, NC.  I spent months Googling lyrics, trying to find the band that had created the goodie I'd heard while pondering life over a veggie burrito bowl.
Once I finally found them and their near-perfect album Swimming (2008), I kind of didn't want to share them with anyone, and I didn't want anyone else sharing them with the world at large.  Apart from my inherent Gollum-like selfishness, I didn't want this great, unique thing to suddenly be picked up by the mainstream--the next logical step being a major label swooping in and buffing down all of its gorgeous, natural edges into a mass-marketable commodity.  Then, all you're left with is: "Ugh, they used to be so good, once."
At the same time, I couldn't understand why, apart from WKNC and Chipotle Radio, no one was playing the damn thing.  Especially the opening track, "Abandon."  The opening riff, which walks a tightrope between a late 60s John Fogerty guitar tone and a late 70s Joy Division/Bernard Sumner tone, should have been enough to propel the song to at least some mainstream airplay (or a car commercial, or something).  The song also has this thunderous, echoey bassline and drum track that sound like they were recorded live in a deserted subway tunnel.  In fact, the mix and mastering on this song (and entire album) are amazing--I've never heard an indie release capture this kind of "live" sound but also be able to get a drum sound this clean, or a bass sound that full, and still have lead and harmony vocals come through crystal clear.  (Yes, I just nerded out about how someone mixed and mastered an album.)
It's a great song from an undiscovered band and album that probably should have been (but gratefully/selfishly wasn't) a mainstream hit.