Yeah, I guess so, have episodes when I hear something somewhere, do a bit of a research and then just experiment.
I used to listen to jazz a lot when I was playing in a band for a bit, so sometimes I tune in
www.wbgo.org that have also great blues and soul programs - works the best at night, after all most of that music has been inspired and orchestrated in places like New York and after midnight.
Then I got interested in songwriting lately so I listened to Leonard Cohen or even old school country like Kris Krisstoferson.
Then, never in my life did I listen to the Cure, but after I saw the Mike Figgis movie "Career Girls" from 1997, that movie was some of the most intense and real stories I've ever seen and the music just totally fit into that and remained somewhere in my subconsciousness so I play some of their older stuff time from time.
Or I found an old cd with mp3's I burned years ago while at the college, played in in a car and it was New Order, I always was a fan of Joy Division but never listened to New Order, now it got hooked me too.
Or I watch an old French movie and there's a major Rock n Roll going on - it's Billy Halliday so I go and check a lot of stuff from Billy Holliday because he has great voice and he was THE French Elvis.
Or I am looking for McCoy Tyner - the famous jazz pianist who played with John Coltrane and I was looking for some of his big band stuff and then I find on Youtube a song that sounds like anything but McCoy tyner - with totally impressive female vocals so I check and find out it's an 1982 album with Phyllis Hyman on it, so I go and check Phyllis Hyman, read her bio etc. and can't believe I didn't know her before..
Every good piece of music has its own history, atmosphere, vibe I like to read a lot about the music I listen to so I can feel it as much as possible.