Today marks one of the most horrifying events of the year. The official kick off to the holiday season, Black Friday is upon us, folks. As big box retailers gear up to open their doors at midnight, the Record Store Day (RSD) crew is fighting back. Rather than driving you into major retail store with low prices (in hopes that you'll buy more than the discounted items), artists are offering special, limited edition releases available in independent record stores starting on Black Friday.

Among this year's releases are The Black Keys' "Lonely Boy" on vinyl, as well as others from the likes of Ryan Adams, The Civil Wars, and even the Beatles and Bob Dylan. What's really great about the whole idea is the the RSD team is finding a way to stick it to the man more than once a year in choosing to celebrate the actual works themselves - in a format other than mp3 nonetheless - rather than the spirit of spending that often takes over the holiday season.

About 900 independent record stores are slated to celebrate RSD's Black Friday including stores in the UK, Canada, France, Germany and Holland, and luckily we'll have access to the releases in Buffalo as well at Record Theatre and Spiral Scratch. Even better than that, some stores have the option to sell the releases online so you won't have to fight the crowds to obtain what you're looking for.

The Black Friday releases aren't nearly as numerous as the yearly RSD releases as RSD usually generates about 300 different ones whereas Black Friday will see about 35. A complete listing of all that will be offered can be viewed on the RSD website (availability of the releases varies by store).

So if you're looking for a great way to rebel against the traditional Black Friday standards of retail gluttony, then browse the releases and get your hands on some excellent collector's items and support your local independent record store. You might even get some free swag (like a limited edition Flexi disc from The Kills when you buy their album Blood Pressures) for going against the grain.

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy by The Black Keys