Sweater Beats, aka NY-based producer Antonio Cuna, has started to build up some hype for his remixing and production work. One track that everyone seems to have slept on since its release is his treatment of Michael Jackson’s “Remember the Time,” off his Young Love/Heartbreak vol. 2 EP. I’ve got a special place for the original “Remember the Time,” I can still remember waiting up to watch the star-studded video premiere (on Fox, I think?). I can also remember my first encounters with teenage heartbreak set to this song playing on the radio.

Sweater Beats’ take, “Remember,” slips copious vocal snippets and MJ gasps (a la M.A.W.’s “Rock with You”) in under a rickety modern-sounding R&B groove. A pillowy whoosh of synth beds ushers in a glissando of airy melody as sample piles upon sample, and finally Michael’s verse surfaces for just a moment. Just as soon the song blossoms, it slowly submerge back into silence, in its own way reminding us how quickly love appears and is lost.

The 2-song EP is a free download, and there’s a lot more in Sweater Beats’ bag of tricks on his Soundcloud for you to peruse, if you’re so inclined.

/// Brian Blackout