There’s a lot more to Chicago than Polish sausage and the typical undiscovered blues guitar genius. It also happens to be the location of another still-burgeoning music scene. Sure, it’s not the Midwestern mecca that Minneapolis is, but it still has some bands to its credit. One such band is a middle-aged (as college rock goes) trio of guys named Urge Overkill.

Urge Overkill chops and kicks back to the record store shelves with Exit the Dragon. Despite the title, the album has nothing to do with Bruce Lee or his movies. What seems to be a theme is the carryover of the Neil Diamond ethic that began with the remake of “Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon.”

With the exception of a few songs, the album sounds like any of the songs could have been written by Diamond. They’ve got that certain glittery swing, that spotlight in Vegas sting, that certain something. That certain something isn’t all that bad, but if you can hear the Diamond hints, you may feel cheesy beyond your years.

“Somebody Else’s Body” sounds a bit like an old Chicago song without the horns, which makes it all the scarier. However, the album starts with “Jaywalkin’,” which sounds a lot closer to the UO that people may have been familiar with from Saturation. The rest is their sort of 70s pop delivery that drives the kids nuts. Long hair, blue sunglasses with matching guitars … it’s music with fashion and function.

Since the leaves are falling and the wind is growing teeth, the mind wanders back to those few days of summer that weren’t blistering with crushing humidity. Getting all misty-eyed, I’ve begun to crack open some of my favorite summer leftovers.

that dog, Totally Crushed Out! These L.A. pop rockers kept things rolling from their first album. The band is quite similar to the precocious kid in the class who knew everything and noticed even more.

Together the band spins out ghostly violin, infectious melodies and deliciously creepy harmonies. They also seem to have perfected their own sweet sucker punch. Suggested tracks: “Ms. Wrong,” “He’s Kissing Christian,” and “Michael Jordan.”

Portishead, Dummy. It actually came out in spring, but man! This is possibly the best dub to roll out of the British Isles in a while. There aren’t any pale, anemic attempts at rapping on this album anywhere — just smoky, film noir spy movie music and catty, jazz-house vocals. Makes you want to don your sunglasses and review top secret microfilm while you dance. Suggested tracks: “Mysterons,” “Strangers,” “Wandering Star.”

Silverchair, Frogstomp. Just kidding.

Hum, You’d Prefer an Astronaut. It’s the new face of metal. Well, perhaps not, but muddy riffs and shoe-gazing American style typify this album.

Hailing from the Urbana-Champaign music mini-mart (home to Poster Children and Suede Chain), Hum seems to hold the melody and anchor riff above all else. The heavier songs aren’t much for multiple guitar parts and sound murky a lot of the time, but it lends a certain unity to the songs. Crispy guitars, bass-heavy mix — great for endangering the hearing. Suggested tracks: “The Pod,” “Suicide Machine,” and “Why I like the Robins.”

The first week of November is front-loaded with great local shows. Great Big Freak, Tripmaster Monkey, Citizen King — zounds!

Unfortunately, one of the big ones to look forward to isn’t happening. Garbage won’t be coming after all (rassafrassin’ managers!). Not only would you have had the chance to see Butch Vig on stage instead of behind the production board, but Shirley Manson’s stage presence would have melted all the metal in People’s. Yikes! Check out the album anyway.

Old college rock dogs Yo La Tengo make an appearance this week with Minneapolis’ Colfax Abbey. YLT is pretty hard to pin down because they go from noise to trance to loud to soft and everywhere in between. Check out any of their countless albums, EPs or singles.

Colfax Abbey, on the other hand, is exactly like whales singing through guitar amps. They have a couple of singles out and are presently working on a full length album.

Sun 60 is playing Des Moines this week and rented a house to record their latest album, HEAdjoy in L.A. That close-quarters collaboration brought out songs like the stalker manifesto “Onto You” and the confessing “C’mon Kiss Me.” This album is slightly more varied than Only, but still has the vestiges of a live Sun 60 show.

The only thing about HEAdjoy is that Joan Jones’ trumpet is rather absent. Such is life, but then again, that’s what a live show is for.