5/150 Star Bass and Vox Teardrop from the 1950s and 1960s. In 2018, Scott stated that he has a personal preference of using older instruments and equipment, saying "I was against effects back then, to tell you the truth. I’m not into being retro for its own sake, but basically I just couldn’t be arsed pressing loads of pedals. My sound just needed to be dubby. I took all the treble right off the amps". An Ibanez fretless bass was used in the recording of "Female of the Species" to emulate a double bass, as according to Scott, "it was the only way to get that sound. I was dead against it at first, because it seemed so naff and cheesy. At the time, only people who had their basses really high on their chests played those instruments".. "Female of the Species" was initially performed using a straight beat, until Griffiths came up with the idea to "stick scratching samples and a hip-hop swing underneath the track". As such, in the studio's basement, Parle, using only one microphone ("the minimum of studio technology"), "merely bunged a load of delay on the resulting loop". David "Yorkie" Palmer sang backing vocals on "Neighbourhood", although he had yet to officially join the band, though he assisted them in recording many of the album's B-sides. Composition Music Spiders was described by critics as disregarding genre, and displays influence from a large array of genres and styles, such as hip hop, "brooding" Eastern European folk music, funk, techno, indie dance and Hawaiian xylophone music. Parts of the album are said to echo British bands such as Squeeze, the Kinks, Madness and Buzzcocks as well as crooner Frank Sinatra and The Walker Brothers. According to Consumable Online, "many of the tracks offer two or three completely distinct styles within four minutes of pop bliss." They described the album as "why full albums were invented, instead of singles" and said "the only common thread" between the tracks is their alternative pop sensibility. The magazine reckoned the closest comparison for Spiders would be the "psychedelic dance beats of Shaun Ryder's groups, Happy Mondays and Black Grape". The album's combining of rock and electronic elements has been described as "a marriage in perfect harmony" where "the guitars don't lead and the beats don't overpower." The Daily Trojan described the balance as follows: "The album smoothly flows from song to