Use a generator:
def chunkRecords(records):
record = []
for r in records:
if r[-1] == ':':
if record:
yield record
record = [r[:-1]]
else:
record.append(r)
if record:
yield record
Then loop over that:
for record in chunkRecords(records):
# record is a list
or turn in into a list again:
records = list(chunkRecords(records))
The latter results in:
>>> records = ["record_a:", "a", "b", "record_b:", "1", "2", "3", "4"]
>>> records = list(chunkRecords(records))
>>> records
[['record_a', 'a', 'b'], ['record_b', '1', '2', '3', '4']]