Biography

Sarathan Records is sweet, its artists eclectic, its music infectious. Founded in 2000 by Seattle musician and Internet pioneer Jonathan Kochmer, Sarathan hums with an incomparable combination of business savvy and top-notch musicianship. Once a doctoral student in evolutionary biology at Yale, Jonathan first came to Seattle in search of music and a change of life. What he found was so much more: a band, a label, a stable of pop-smart artists, passionate people and a future ripe with possibility.

After busking on the streets to pay for his final year at Yale, Jonathan Kochmer arrived in Seattle in the summer of 1989. He took a job as an Internet consultant at the University of Washington - and then spent two months living out of his Subaru before he finally got paid and rented an apartment.

Lightning struck a few months later when a friend introduced Jonathan to Sarah Scott. They started making music immediately. With him on guitar and her on vocals, Two Loons for Tea was born.

Meanwhile, Jonathan's daytime career was taking off. He became the ninth employee of Amazon.com, where he learned a thing or two about total dedication. Jonathan spent the late '90s working 20-hour days, sleeping under his desk, and living on a steady diet of ramen noodles, frozen peas and vitamin pills. Music and Sarah fell by the wayside.

Three years later, Jonathan pulled out a couple of old Loons tapes and heard the music calling. His subsequent departure from Amazon led to a reunion with Sarah, a full-length album and a fledgling DIY label, Sarathan Records. Six years later, the label is not only home to a flock of outstanding artists, it is a testament to good business and serious integrity.

Reinforced by cutting-edge industry partners like Fontana Distribution and Indie Marketer, The Sarathan roster demonstrates not only aural eclecticism, but also a breadth of backgrounds ranging from music industry legends to budding DIY talent: the label's original dream-pop act, Two Loons for Tea; GRAMMY™ nominee Abra Moore, the Airpushers, a genre-bending project from GRAMMY™-winning Printz Board and Tim Izo Orindgreff of the Black Eyed Peas; Lamont Dozier, an unsung cornerstone of American songwriting; exhilarating Austin export Shane Bartell; gritty raconteur Christopher Blue; essential Seattle indie rock The Purrs; and the delightfully bizarre, imminently huge Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players.