Thomas Fehlmann was making great music since before many of you were born. That he’s still making great music is cause for wonder and celebration.

Last night at Broadway Performance Hall, as part of Decibel’s Opening Gala Event, the gaunt Ben Kingsley look-alike began his inspirational set with what sounded like spy-flick soundtrack music dipped in ice-cool dub. He moved into a spectral hiphop track he cut with Michigan’s Dabrye, and every head in the joint started nodding on cue. Fehlmann transitioned into more elegantly funky dub swathed in the richest tonal finery available in the European Union. Later he maneuvered into throbbing, sensual minimal techno. Many in the crowd left their seats and moved in accordance to Fehlmann’s inviting rhythms. Security did not throw them out of the house. Good vibes spread and I temporarily forgot about imminent global catastrophe for a while. Even the fool who shouted “Freebird”! near the end couldn’t ruin the mood.

Fehlmann—50ish, balding, bespectacled, rail thin—danced with cat-like grace and stealth throughout his entire awesome set. Ordinarily, a producer grooving to his own music onstage comes off as annoyingly narcissistic. But Fehlmann looked like the most charming, enchanted laptop jockey ever. And he made me ponder this improbability: how did this geeky Swiss native become the reigning master of dub?