It is always a pleasure to be asked by BBC 6Music to be part of their Now Playing section, and it seems the feature is pretty popular with it winning a Sony Radio Award this year and all. As well as getting some of the UK’s finest music bloggers both on the show and curating the show, they are now teaming up with our friends at The Hype Machine to unveil the Music Blog Zeitgeist of the year so far across all the blogs listed on the aggregator.

More than this, however, 6Music have also asked a few of their favourite music blogs (including us here at The Blue Walrus) to offer up our top three bands and artists of the year so far – so here is our selection:

Alt-J (facebook/twitter)
We may have unearthed Alt-J last year, and even introduced Breezeblocks on 6Music back in September – but it has been 2012 that has seen the band’s well deserved rise into the public consciousness with the release of the breathtaking debut album An Awesome Wave, and that record has been on repeat more than anything else at Walrus HQ so far this year.

MMOTHS (facebook/twitter)
One listen to Heart by Irish producer MMOTHS featuring the vocals of Keep Shelley In Athens and I was swooning. He then followed that up with the delicately crafted and sublime EP1 and most recently Folding which is a hypnotic delight.

Noosa (twitter)
Although I only found them relatively recently, Noosa’s debut EP is the most perfect pop record I’ve heard all year as it ebbs and flows from the rich beauty of Walk On By to the sun worshipping of Sail. This will be the soundtrack of my summer.