Fresh Cow Pie #5 $10.00 (comes with CD) For additional info, contact Farmer P at the email address below. CONTACT: Farmer P Fresh Cow Pie 5112 77th Ave. SE Montpelier, ND 58472 farmerp@daktel.com Available from Parasol, or you can

For those of you not in the know, Fresh Cow Pie is the only farmer-centric, North Dakota-based music zine in the world...at least as far as I know. And Farmer P, the man behind the mag, is one of the most distinctive voices you'll ever read.

Despite the web's potential to greatly enhance human interaction, Fresh Cow Pie is produced in a relative musical vacuum, which is part of what makes it fascinating to me as someone who lives near a major city. Because he lives in an area where he's unlikely to get to see too many of his favorite bands, Farmer P can approach the music without all the scene-related political bullshit that muddies the focus of even the most detached zines (yes, Splendid too). As a result, he's refreshingly candid, judging music on the simplest of merit-related terms -- as his reviews intro asks, "Does it rock or does it not rock?"

Let's look at obvious changes first. With #5, FCP has made the move away from newsprint. This issue is printed on crisp, white paper...and therefore not on your hands, as was the case with previous issues, which might have been okay if you were reading FCP while sitting in a tractor on your back forty (and as anyone reading this should be able to tell, I have almost no clue about farming, so I'll just apologize now) but not when you're reading at home and don't want to leave black fingerprints all over your stuff. The zine still folds up nice and small so you can stuff it in your pocket and take it anywhere -- you just don't leave it everywhere you go. Good call, Farmer P.

Much more importantly, FCP#5 includes a CD compilation, Tractor Tunes Vol. I, which accounts for the significant increase in cover price. The best and most personal sort of compilation, Tractor Tunes consists of 21 songs by artists Farmer P really likes. Roughly 75% of these fall under the broad blanket of punkish guitar-rock, with a few slower and folkier tunes (including a stellar track from June Panic) and an Emperor Penguin song to round out the list. The mixture of established artists and unsigned acts on Tractor Tunes means that you'll discover a bunch of new artists one way or the other. A number of well known artists appear on the disc under assumed names; one of them, for instance, is currently signed to a label best-known for CDs of TV theme songs, and his current album includes the work "collapse" in its title. That's right, Ricky Martin.

Tractor Tunes is more like a mix-tape from a friend, prepared with loving care. You should snap it up while you've got the chance.

So, now it's time to actually read the zine itself. What will you find?

As the cover boasts, you'll find more than 140 of Farmer P's trademark "tractor seat music reviews." If you've read this entire article and can't figure out why they're called Tractor Seat Music Reviews, you should probably be reading Buddyhead instead of Splendid. If you're new to FCP, you'll learn a couple of things about Farmer P at this point. First off, his tastes are a lot broader than you'd expect; he tackles post-rock, emo, techno and punk with eager ears. Second, he doesn't let the "Tractor Seat" gimmick carry his reviews -- they're concise and thoughtful, and only rarely dismissive. I was impressed by the quality of Farmer P's writing, not just in the reviews but throughout FCP. Whether he's a natural or slaves over his copy, FCP is really well-written and largely devoid of the sort of spelling/grammar/punctuation errors that you'd expect from a DIY-type zine.

There are two interviews in FCP#5. Early in the magazine, you'll find a one-page Q&A with Rob from ska-ish band Hot Stove Jimmy. It's good, though like most e-mail interviews there are missed opportunities for further questioning.

The zine's highlight is a multi-page interview with Jack Rabid, publisher/writer of the seminal zine The Big Takeover. Farmer P knows TBT very well, and his questions elicit answers from Rabid that are packed with nuggets of punk rock wisdom. This is one of the best articles I've read in a very long time; if you're passionate about music, and about writing about music, this interview will reaffirm your faith.

You'll also find a one-page handwritten list (plus a sidebar) of Farmer P's favorite things. You'll learn his favorite bands, albums, beers, TV shows and, most importantly, cheeses. In an issue that's surprisingly lacking in "personal" content, these help give new readers an impression of Farmer P. On the same two-page spread, you'll find an article about FCP's surprising victory in Insound's aborted Zine Poll. For those out of the loop, Insound ran an online "Best Zine" poll which rapidly turned into a fiasco. Online zines, including Splendid, dominated the voting by virtue of being able to refer voters to the poll faster than print zines...but somehow, FCP "won", amid accusations of cheating. Farmer P's straightforward explanation of the grass-roots campaign that put FCP in the number one slot, and pissed off a lot of indie zine-scenesters, seems honest and accurate. I believe him.

I mentioned the relative lack of "personal" material. FCP#5 seems a bit thinner, content-wise, than the last issue -- due largely to the time it took to put out Tractor Tunes Vol. I. In particular, Farmer P hasn't really included any farming-related stuff in FCP#5 -- something of a disappointment to those of us who found those articles interesting, but Farmer P in his intro that he's been involved in a big lawsuit against the federal government and doesn't really have anything to say about farming this time around. It's obviously tough to be a farmer, and he seems to be thinking about giving it up, though I hope he doesn't. If you're a person who buys zines to get to know

Should you buy FCP#5? Hell yes. Tractor Tunes Vol. I justifies most of the $10 price, and the Jack Rabid interview will cover the rest. Unless you're one of those people who won't read anything that's not a glossy periodical, you should give FCP a try. Do you want to read more articles by supposed hipster teens droning on about Slint and Shellac, or do you want something new? Farmer P's perspective is unique. He's someone you should get to know.

Reviewed by George Zahora