"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.

"Said So What" (French Kicks)

French Kicks is (was?) a New York indie band.  The little I know about them is that the band was formed in Brooklyn in the late 90s by three guys from Ohio's Oberlin College and another guy from Princeton.  One of them went on to work for the website Etsy in the late 2000s, and the band hasn't released much since.
Nevertheless, what the band did release over the years is pretty compelling stuff.  Especially 2008's Swimming, which is solid from start to finish.  Their sound conjures up the more ethereal and grooving sides of My Morning Jacket/Jim James (minus the alt country leanings) with a touch of off-kilter pop goodness à la Big Star/Alex Chilton and Lindsey Buckingham circa Tusk or Law and Order.
One standout track from Swimming is "Said So What."  I first heard the song on college radio (WKNC) one night in Raleigh, NC, after a particularly shitty day at work.  I'm still not sure about any of the lyrics.  From what I've been able to pick out, it seems like the narrator is addressing someone who is living life like it's his/her own personal drugstore, and despite letting this individual know that he is willing to stick by him/her, he still can't help but ask, "Why?"
For me, it was the mystery and murk of the verses, followed by that indelible Why, tell me, why / I don't know in the chorus, that grabbed me that evening.  I personally felt as if I were fighting an uphill battle with no chance of victory, and that harmonious refrain Why, tell me, why and the ultimate reply I don't know fit perfectly at that moment.  
It's just a well-crafted, tastefully produced song that I tend to revisit, over and over.  Just wish French Kicks would make more music one day.