<Li> Art rock or experimental rock--this is a term with several different meanings, depending on one's milieu, but two are most relevant to Downtown music: 1 . originally, music made by visual artists, presumably musical amateurs, often tending toward surreal theater, as in the early performances of Glenn Branca and Jeffrey Lohn; and 2 . subsequent to Rhys Chatham's influence, a transferral of minimalism to "rock" instruments, resulting in static pieces played on electric guitars, generally with a backbeat . Groups like DNA, Sonic Youth, Live Skull and the Swans arose from this (and the no wave) movement . </Li> <Li> Free improvisation--originating with Terry Riley and Pauline Oliveros, this scene took over Downtown in the early 1980s, under the leadership of John Zorn and Elliott Sharp . This music, celebrating extemporaneity, flourished in a city in which rehearsal space was expensive and difficult to come by, and provided an outlet for many jazz - trained / - centered musicians tired of jazz performance conventions . </Li> <Li> Postminimalism--a style of music based on a steady beat and diatonic harmony, less linear or obvious than minimalism but taking over its ensemble concept of amplified chamber groups . Postminimalism was more a far - flung national movement than anything specific to Manhattan, but William Duckworth and Elodie Lauten are examples of New York - based postminimalists . </Li> <Li> Totalism--another style emerging from minimalism but taking it in the direction of rhythmic complexity and rock - inspired beat momentum . Postminimalism and totalism were both bolstered by the emergence, starting in 1987, of the Bang on a Can festival, curated by Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon . </Li>

The downtown scene in new york is led by the musicians