Record Store Day in Toronto is, for lovers of the physical musical-medium, like Christmas - except the majority of the loot comes in 12"x12" dimensions (ok, not to exclude 7" and 10" releases), and instead of scrambling under a tree, you're lining up at an ungodly hour and crawling over other shoppers for that special green-vinyl pressing. Imagine more of a Jingle All The Way situation than Charlie Brown's Christmas.

For those of us who love the festivities, on April 18, Toronto's stores are hosting a great selection of Record Store Day releases, live music and sales.

Once a struggling commodity, vinyl has seen one of the biggest comebacks since the polaroid camera (or the brass cocktail set?). While majors struggle to break new singles and artists with attention-grabbing videos and surprise campaigns, Jack White's Lazaretto sold 75,700 vinyl copies in 2014, and
The Wall Street Journal claims vinyl sales have increased by 49% since last year.

That doesn't mean vinyl is out of the woods yet. Despite some big names selling wax, we've seen the shuttering of some independent, local vinyl labels, as well as the resurgence of the cassette (e.g. the success of Burger Records).

Record Store Day has its fair share of cons, especially for smaller labels. Those accustomed to flipping casually through the shelves can be overwhelmed with the crowds of people who use RSD as their lone dalliance into a cultural practice many exercise year round.

Let's not get started with the inflated mark-ups that record speculators throw up on Ebay, sometimes even before the record itself hits the shelves.

Complaints about interlopers aside, overall Record Store Day is a positive trend in the way we consume music. The necessity of listening to an A-Side, then stopping whatever you're doing to manually flip to the B-Side, is a lot more engaging than hitting shuffle on an iPod. Or a Pono, eh Neil?

As Parkdale Platters owner Chris Gibson puts it, "as a shop keep, I would like every day to be Record Store Day." For many of us that's already true - and what better way to embrace vinyl culture than to invite those unaware of the joys of record collecting into our world for a day?

For an expansive, if not slightly out-of-touch (RIP Of A Kind; Greek World Music??), list of participating Toronto record stores, check out Record Store Day's registry. Alternatively, our list of top 20 record stores by neighbourhood may come in handy for those looking to celebrate Record Store Day in your own locale.

IN-STORE PERFORMANCES AND SALES

• The Wooden Sky's Gavin Gardiner will be performing at Cabin Fever Collective at 7pm.
• Performances by Comet Control, MIMICO, Harrison, Anamai, Carl Didur at Sonic Boom throughout the day.
• Evening "after-party" at Chinatown fun-haus 8-11 featuring Mmm Mmm (Sexy Merlin/Man Made Hill), Soupcans, and more. $8.
• Kops Records is having a sale (15% on vintage products, $2 45's, and more), and at their Annex location there will be an in-store performance by Toronto's K.I.D plus a nu-mark turntable giveaway

RECORD STORE DAY RELEASES BY TORONTO ACTS

• Tess Parks and Anton Newcombe - Cocaine Cat 10" coloured
• Sloan - Alternates 12"
• Death From Above 1979 - Trainwreck 10" picture disc (500 copies)

RECORD STORE DAY HIGHLIGHTS

• Swans 12" EP
• Steve Reich Music For 18 Musicians (1998) 2xLP
• Various Artists The Darjeeling Limited Original Soundtrack (coloured vinyl)
• Bernard Herrmann Psycho 7"

How will you celebrate Record Store Day in Toronto? Let us know in the comments (on anon if you're an Ebay re-seller).

Photo of Sonic Boom by Matt Forsythe