Similar to countless musicians before him, John Vanderslice picked up the guitar in eighth grade and formed his first band. Unlike the mass majority of young musicians, however, Vanderslice practiced and persisted, eventually ending up as a member of the much-heralded experimental pop quartet MK Ultra.

After staking its claim as a credible band and producing three well-received albums, MK Ultra disbanded in 1999 and Vanderslice wasted no time in accrediting a solo reputation.

In 2000, he started his career as a solo artist with a bang. Vanderslice gained national media attention and caused quite a stir with his single “Bill Gates Must Die.” The disc was etched similar to a Windows installation disc and Microsoft supposedly threatened legal action over trademark violations.

Six years later, Vanderslice has recorded five full-length albums and a plethora of other material. His most recent release, “Pixel Revolt,” was widely showered with praise, earning a nomination for the New Pantheon Music Prize and earning a spot on numerous “best of 2005” lists.

Four songs on “Pixel Revolt” pertain directly to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the events that followed, including the tale of military men watching the second plane hit the World Trade Center towers. A large portion of the disc is a product of Vanderslice’s culmination of poetic rage regarding the state of the United States.

“I mean it’s horrible. I was in France during the rioting, and every time I was there these surburban kids were rioting and burning cars,” Vanderslice said. “My thought the whole time was, ‘Why isn’t any of this happening in the States?’ Where are the protests? I mean I would even take those stupid f—king anarchists over nothing. There’s just got to be something, you know?”

Vanderslice was brought up by a political family, and concern for the nation has always been a part of his life. He said he has never felt as pessimistic about the United States as he has recently with the Bush administration.

“I mean, I had never felt that it was hopeless, but I really started to feel that way after the Patriot Act and Afghanistan and Iraq. My thoughts haven’t really changed on that. Maybe I’ve just gotten acclimated to that feeling of hopelessness,” he said.

When asked about hope for the future, Vanderslice said he doesn’t see much potential for change.

“I’m really not seeing the Democrats positioning themselves. I mean, god. Are we going to see Hillary [Clinton] versus Condoleeza [Rice]? Condi Rice is a f—king maniac,” Vanderslice said. “She’s a dangerous, horrible person and Hillary isn’t much better. Is that the center of the country where she’s making alliances with Newt Gingrich and talking about flag-burning amendments? I mean, this country is nuts,” he said.

Aside from his political unrest, Vanderslice talks with a certain calm and a sincere enthusiasm. Nine years ago, Vanderslice opened Tiny Telephone recording studio – a studio that has carved a niche as the last all-analog recording studio in the San Francisco Bay area.

During its short lifetime, the studio has flourished and helped to produce many renowned artists and albums, including the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, Mates of State, Spoon and Travis Morrison.

“It’s named after a cable connector that’s used for patch bays,” Vanderslice said. “They’re called TT cables, and most engineers don’t know that stands for Tiny Telephone and it has to do with the second wave of operator patchbays. They would take [the cables] by hand and route these phone calls. I thought, ‘Whoa, this is great!’ and named my studio after it. That was before all these cell phones, so now it’s not as special, you know?”

Tiny Telephone does its recording in somewhat of an old-fashioned manner, using analog equipment that a vast majority of other studios outgrew during the new age of digital. Vanderslice swears by analog, saying that it sounds far superior to digital.

“My god, everything sounds so much better analog. It’s probably partly a prestigious thing and partly a sentimental thing, but it’s hard to let go of something that’s had 60 or 70 years of people pouring their lives out trying to figure it out,” he said. “When digital has that kind of experience behind it, it’ll be great, but right now it’s just miserable. And I say that as a guy that makes a lot of money off of digital.”

Vanderslice said he would make a lot more money if he were to say, “Oh my god, digital is incredible, come on down,” and most studios either lie or are ignorant about digital being superior.

“It’s like the difference between a Wolf gas oven and a microwave,” he said. “Somebody can say, ‘What’s the problem, the food’s hot,’ you know? That says a lot about where it’s at right now.”

Vanderslice has developed a reputation of being a perfectionist in the studio, erasing and backtracking until he’s happy with his product.

“‘Pixel Revolt’ probably took nine months to do. That’s too much time,” he said. “I look back and say, ‘What was I doing?’ But I’m very happy with the finished product.”

When he has downtime, Vanderslice said he loves listening to other artists. Destroyer, Mountain Goats, Silver Jews and Radiohead are a few he’s tagged as lifelong idols. As much as his music seems to draw inspiration from music similar to his own, Vanderslice said he’s also a huge fan of hip-hop.

“There are a lot of great hip-hop writers and they tend to be more political and more engaged,” he said. “They’re a little more fearless, too. You know, you’re not gonna get shocked by listening to indie rock. Music needs to mean something.”

Vanderslice returns to the Maintenance Shop on Friday.

“I love it. I like the sight line. I like how close the stage is to everyone, the whole vibe is pretty great,” he said. “I haven’t played in Ames for . god, has it been like two years? I have a lot of friends in Ames and it’s always a pleasure to play the M-Shop.”