The Conet Project

The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations is a four (later five) CD set of recordings of numbers stations and noise stations, which are shortwave (HF) radio stations with geographical markers and unknown locations believed to be operated by government agencies to communicate with deployed spies, many of which are defunct. The collection is released by Britain's Irdial-Discs record label in 1997, based on the work of numbers station enthusiast Akin Fernandez. The project's name comes from a mishearing of the Czech word "konec", or "end", which marks the end of transmissions on the Czech numbers station. In keeping with its "free music philosophy", the Irdial-Discs label made the entire collection available for free to download as a collection of MP3 files (along with a PDF version of the included booklet). Irdial-Discs discontinued the hosting of said files, but still provide links to alternative, active hosts.
Legacy and sampling.
Samples from the collection have been used in numerous films and albums, including Cameron Crowe's 2001 film "Vanilla Sky", Porcupine Tree's album "Stupid Dream", J Church's album "One Mississippi", and We Were Promised Jetpacks' album "These Four Walls". American rock band Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" was an issue of legal dispute after main member Jeff Tweedy sampled "(E10) Phonetic Alphabet - NATO" in the song "Poor Places", and Irdial sued for copyright infringement. The incident sparked debate about who exactly owns copyright concerning recordings of numbers station transmissions, but Tweedy decided to avoid taking the matter to court, agreeing to pay Irdial royalties and reimburse its legal fees. The Besnard Lakes have also used recordings from numbers stations throughout their album, "The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse" and frontman Jace Lasek is said to be a fan of "The Conet Project". The post-hardcore band Silverstein sampled the recording "Czech Lady" in "In A Place Of Solace", a song released on their album "This Is How the Wind Shifts". Kronos Quartet incorporated live reception of the Conet numbers into "4Cast Unpredictable", a performed sound sculpture in collaboration with Trimpin. Ten years in the making, the piece was performed once only, at Montclair State University Performing Arts Center, New Jersey, in 2007.
Five-disc release.
"The Conet Project" was rereleased in a five-disc 15th anniversary edition in April 2013 with a new booklet, featuring detailed photographs of a numbers station voice sample controller, a Sprach-Morse-Generator der HVA des MfS (Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung des Ministeriums für Staatssicherheit der DDR) and one-time pad samples of the type used by the East German STASI. These are the first pieces of numbers station equipment to find their way into public hands. The entire fifth disc contains recordings of "noise stations", which are not the result of naturally occurring radio phenomena.
Notes.
The Tyrolean Music Station Played Several Songs By German Yodeler Franzl Lang Followed By A Play-It-Yourself Music box playing The West europe anthem titled The Nationle.