Welcome to volume two of the cross-blog collaboration between Black Porridge and Mel Bakes Things. The timing couldn’t be more perfect for this installment: it’s early August and that humidity is just starting to pop in and out of the air. It just makes you want to… well, loaf.

We went with Real Estate‘s “Suburban Beverage” this time around, which isn’t necessarily a stand-out track from the band’s 2009 debut, but definitely one of the more esoteric with a total of one lyric. I’ve always found the band to be pretty polarizing, but sometimes even a garage junkie like me is in the mood for a jam band without the solos. Picture the alt-bros, floating down some lazy river in North Carolina, alternating between cheap beer and clear soda. The sweaty buzz between the barometer and the bottom of a bottle. This is an album about the weather.

You could play this track in the background of any place and not remember anything about it except for the warm glow it emits. That’s the work of the easygoing bass and chiming guitars. Besides that, there are two distinct sections in “Suburban Beverage” — the “amble” and the “ramble.” The first puts you at ease with a Yo La Tengo-y hum, while the second blooms like a sunny, Vitamin D-enriched ecstasy.

Instead of the pretty gross-sounding “Budweiser/Sprite” mantra mentioned in the song, Mel went with a rosé and berry purée slushie, which was delicious. Even though I live most of my life as a pasty indoor child, this thing put me in the mood to be outside. I also drank it quicker than a suburban housewife simultaneously dying of thirst, boredom and a hangover, so I ended up with a quick, light-headed buzz. Ah, summer.

You can check out the recipe on Mel’s blog, and have a listen to the song below, care of YouTube user wooboy11.

[youtube http://youtu.be/CCWR7e85mVE]