Jonathan Kochmer
(Owner)
Before starting Sarathan, I've been a musician, statistician, geneticist, librarian, museum curator, data mining engineer, global warming researcher, and a feral teen-child living on roots and berries. My favorite color is "clear". I always see  bunnies & trilobites when I look at clouds in the sky. I am pathologically obsessed with  palindromes and statistical/graphical thinking. My favorite poets are Yeats, Eliot, Pound, Roethke and A.R. Ammons. My favorite painters are Kupka, Klimpt and  Albrecht Durer. My favorite philosophers were Leibniz, Wittgenstein, and Searle, And music? It a lifestyle, not a choice.

Jonathan's tracks that made me stop in my tracks:
Feist "Mushaboom"
Frou Frou "Let Go"
Tori Amos "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Kate Bush "Running Up That Hill"
Suzanne Vega "Small Blue Thing"


Kate Leaver
(Office Manager)
Born and raised in Seattle, I've always had a love for Northwest and Independent music. After a brief affair with the bass guitar, I learned that I was better suited for music appreciation than rock stardom. I bring to Sarathan a background in sales and support, and an unhealthy obsession with organization and administration. Because of these skills I have earned nicknames including "DupliKate (accept no substitutes!)", "RepliKate", and "Lippy".

Kate's tracks that made me stop in my tracks:
The Books "Smells Like Content"
Pearl Jam "Alive"
Neko Case "Porchlight"
Pink Floyd "The Great Gig in the Sky"
Radiohead "Paranoid Android"

Jessica Drenkel
My varied history in the local music business is unsurprising, as I'm a Seattle native. After spending time at a handful of local and national record stores, the Stranger, live music venues, the ROCKRGRL music conference and the Ten Club, I'm happy to be humming at Sarathan. Oh, and in my "free time" I manage, book and/or promote a few bands.

Jessica's tracks that made me stop in my tracks:
David Bowie "Let's Dance"
PJ Harvey "50 ft Queenie"
Aphex Twin "Selected Ambient Works"
Battles "Mirrored"

Kara McGraw
(Internet Marketing)
In the backwoods of Vermont, I embraced the quiet, because from it arose the music. I would record the sounds I heard with the help of a baby grand named Yamaha. Yamaha's favorite place to make music was a dark room overlooking a stream overgrown with wild, verdant flora. I later picked up the flute because we had one in the house. I lost it in a snow bank. I picked up the guitar for the same reason, but felt limited by the instrument. But Yamaha was always there for me, and when we sang together the shadows were defectless, and to exist was to be holy.

Kara's tracks that made me stop in my tracks:
Vienna Teng "Now Three"
Eric Whitacre "Night Music"
Jeff Buckley "Hallelujah"
Within Temptation "Mother Earth"
Sarah Slean "Sweet Ones"
Arena "(Don't Forget to) Breathe"
Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music "Send in the Clowns"
Gabriel Faure "Faure Requiem"

Jon Krop
(Web Developer/Graphic Designer)
Jon’s love of art, music, pop culture, and rooting for the underdogs is life long. His career includes working for major ad agencies, record labels (Rykodisc, Barsuk, Columbia, eenie meenie, and more), non profits, and a whose-who list of musicians and entertainers (including Big Star, Tracy Bonham, Redd Kross, Charlotte Caffey (The Go-Gos), Jon Auer, Bill Hicks, Brian Eno, and the Misfits.) Some of his recent work earned a 2005 Golden Dot Award Nomination for best campaign site, and the 2004 Webby Award for Best Activism site.

When not attached to his computer, Jon likes to cook, bike ride, read, and experiment with photography.

Jon's tracks that made me stop in my tracks:
Redd Kross "Peach Kelli Pop" and "Play My Song"
Persephone's Bees "Nice Day"
Patrick Park "Something Pretty"
Sonic Youth "Kool Thing"
The Cure "Just Like Heaven"
Frank Zappa "Camarillio Brillo"
Komeda "Blossom"
Elton John "Love Lies Bleeding/Funeral For A Friend"