Hello friends!

My name is Matthew Estevez, some of you may know me as The F-use, which is my personal music project. I’ll be going as The Cubanator (how most know me as in our Discord) for this journey. I’ve been a part of the IMF community for a while now and have been wanting to have a try at writing blogs/articles about music! 

I’m really pumped to be starting up this weekly, more laid back write-ups of two to three songs off of the “IMF New Releases” event. This new event is held once a week and features a small handful of new releases that come from IMF community members!

These quick blogs/articles are going to be less of an in-depth technical review, and more of a quick “how does this song affect me from the first two listens”.

Here’s how I’ll go about these – I put my headphones on, close my eyes, and take the song in all at once. After jotting down my initial feelings and thoughts, I’ll listen to the song again while typing as I listen and revise my notes into coherent sentences! 

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!


Waste Away by Empty Elles

Nothing made me want live shows to come back more than this song. Between the crunchy guitar tones and nostalgic vocal melodies, this track made me reminisce and have that “damn this is tight” stank face all throughout the song. 

The playful chorus had me bopping my head; and with my first listen through, I wondered how fun it must’ve been to record this song. The lyrics reflected much of (what it seems like) some of their pop-punk influences; a personal conversation between the singer and the universal “you” a lot of artists use to make it seem like they’re singing to the listener. 

My favorite part of the song comes towards the end, a dropout break with a repeating line and melody that can get anybody to sing along. I can only imagine how much fun it’ll be singing this back and forth with the crowd the second we’re able to play shows again. Ba da da da da la la laaaaaa. 

As the weather warms up, this is the perfect song to listen to as you roll down the windows and go for that first warm weather drive with your friends. I recommend this to people who typically listen to pop-punk and music along the lines of Green Day, Everclear and Third Eye Blind. 

Check out ‘Waste Away’ here, and follow Empty Elles on Instagram.


How Many Licks by Osay

What can I say about Osay that hasn’t been said yet? She is one of my favorite artists I’ve been introduced to within the IMF community. Osay has something special; when you hear one of her tracks, you immediately know that it’s her. From her flow to the unique and consistent vocal effects throughout her discography, Osay has made her own sound and won’t let go. 

We’re immediately met with a dissonant mallet melody that is both inviting and unsettling which had no issue drawing me in. The vocals sat perfectly in the mix as we experienced the rhythmic tease of a conversation that plays off of the classic Tootsie Pop phrase, “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?”. The song sits right under two minutes long, which is perfect length to leave you wanting more. 

It’s just too catchy – I’ll have to get my explanation ready as to why I keep singing, “How many licks gonna take to get to the middle of my uh uh uh”. I can’t think of many artists who relate to Osay’s sound, so bare with me when I say I recommend this to people who think soft-spoken-poetic-rap sounds like a good time. 

Check out ‘How Many Licks’ here, and follow Osay on Instagram.


Check out the full IMF New Releases playlist for the week of March 7th 2021 here.

*Note – This is my first time crafting a blog of any kind, so it’s going to be visually bland for a while as I work out how to pretty up these pages!

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